


Wearing Your Fur

by Medicalnonsense



Series: Waxing and Waning [1]
Category: Game Grumps, Ninja Sex Party - Fandom
Genre: Anachronisms, Attempted Murder, Brian is a werewolf, Danny is human, M/M, TWRP, Werewolves, but nothing graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-03
Updated: 2017-08-03
Packaged: 2018-12-10 16:15:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 51,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11695308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Medicalnonsense/pseuds/Medicalnonsense
Summary: Written for Game Grumps Big-Bang 2017 on Tumblr:Danny's life is falling apart, has fallen apart; in an effort to save what little face he has left, he flees to a remote town in Ontario looking to start anew.  The townsfolk are a friendly bunch, but the local wildlife seems too fantastic to be real.  The story goes there's a werewolf in the woods serving as a town protector; are the stories true or is it just another man seeking to run away from the sins of his past?  Perhaps, Danny finds out, it's a little bit of both.





	1. 1

          Everything out here was different somehow.  It was a spiritual experience in a way, the way the landscape took most of what he was used to from him.  Dan, with his rucksack of meager belongings looked out the window of the bus as the landscape wooshed by.  They called this place the Great Northwoods for a reason, on either side of the highway, the dark forest stretched.  The glow of his phone caught his attention on the sleeping bus, telling him it was another hour to Canada.  Then, from there…  
Being truthful, Dan really didn’t know where he was going.  Anywhere seemed a vast improvement over where he had been.  Not many things prompted a person to pick up and move like one’s life falling apart.  No apartment, no car, parents hadn’t spoken to him in months…  So, here he just was.  His eyelids began to droop again, arms tightening over his bag; maybe he could get a bit more rest before the bus hit the border and he had to present his visa.  
  
          “Welcome to Toronto, watch your step and have a nice day!”  The bus driver called, taking his chance to step off the bus and stretch his legs.  Dan followed suit with the rest of the passengers, stepping off the bus, but skipping the line for baggage pick up.  Slinging his bag over his shoulder, he looked about the station, he could either connect with other busses within the city of Toronto and bum around a bit, or he could continue his journey.  The early spring morning held a chill that he had not expected.  He shivered and pulled his leather jacket tighter around his thin body; no one was going to be up for another few hours and he was already freezing his ass off.  
          Dan had never been to Toronto, he had friends that lived in the area but…  His goal in leaving was not to go back to the life that he had already made a right mess of.  Clenching his jaw into a frown, he continued into the bus station; looking through all the pamphlets of bus, trolley, subway and train routes, he let out a sigh.  There were so many places to choose to go, but nowhere within Toronto sounded appealing.  He needed to leave, he needed…  He knew exactly what he needed.  
  
          “Uh, hey, I need to buy a ticket.” Dan spoke to the elder woman behind the pane of glass at the train station once he made it to the front of the line.  
          “Sure, where to?”  The woman clicked around on her computer and leaned in, tilting her ear towards the gap in the window.  
          “Mmm,” Danny looked at the board in front of him for a few seconds, almost forgetting that he needed to answer her.  “Uh, Iroquois Falls.”  
          The ticketing employee clicked around on her screen, asking “Date and time of travel?”  
          “Uh…  As soon as available?”  Danny swallowed a thick breath.  
          “Hmm…”  The jaded service worker droned, “Soonest is 9:15 this morning.”  
          “Sweet!  I’ll take it.”  
          She smiled to him, ringing him up for the ticket, “Your total comes to 162 dollars and thirty-five cents.”  
          Danny would have balked if he had not already taken one long bus ride to get here.  In truth, this was just a bus to _get_ to the train station he wanted.  Unzipping his bag, he dug his hand into the tightly-packed space and fished out his wallet, easily handing over his converted cash.  
          “Out of 200.” She murmured to herself, collecting Dan’s change and sliding it under the glass for him to collect.  Soon after, Dan’s train ticket followed.  The two thanked each other and Dan continued on his way, returning his wallet to his bag.  
          As he settled into a bench to wait for the hours to melt by, he realized he had not eaten in a long time.  He considered eating, but, in the end, he decided to wait, he just was not feeling up to it. A twelve hour bus ride was, nonetheless, daunting and for some reason it spurred him no more to eating.  It made his eyelids droop and the pit in his chest sink all the more, almost to his empty stomach.  No, he would sleep, it could wait.  
  
          The long bus ride was met with yet another bus ride, this time to Cochrane.  Though it came as some relief to Dan as he ate his granola bar, that the ride to Cochrane was only a half an hour.  Not to mention that the ticket was a fraction of the price.  It was late by the time Danny arrived at the Cochrane train station, all these long hours of travel had left him with nothing to do but contemplate his life.  He wanted to go as far away as he could, so, standing at the ticketing desk, he told the worker behind the counter, “I need a ticket for the last stop.  Tomorrow morning.”  
          “One ticket for Moosonee?”  They asked him, a long day’s work putting a weary tone in their voice.  
          “Yeah.”  Danny, nodded, looking to the map of stops posted to the wall.  It was as far as the train would go, there were no roads that lead to the town.  Access was only possible by a river that was often frozen solid, plane or this train.  It was exactly what he was looking for, even if he knew the winter would kick his ass.  
          The worker read off Dan’s departure time as 9:00 the next morning and the ticket might not have been cheap, but it was far more affordable than his bus tickets had been together.  Giving them a smile, Danny accepted his ticket, tucking it somewhere safe.  He had around ten hours to burn until it was time to board his train and after spending two whole days doing nothing but sleeping on a train, he was the definition of stir-crazy.  A real _meal_ was right at the top of his list of things to do before settling into a bench at the train station to sleep.  Checking his phone--no service, of course--he decided that somewhere must still be open, so he stepped into the brisk Cochrane air.  
          As it turned out, the station sat nearly by itself and with the old restaurant that used to be attached to it closed, he was forced to walk alone in the dark.  Up a few blocks and over, he came upon a pleasant strip of stores.  Most all of the storefronts were dark with no life to speak of, but he pressed farther into the unfamiliar city.  Eventually, Danny came upon one glimmer of hope for his stomach:  A grey, almost nondescript building with big, friendly, blue letters reading “The Ice Hut Bar and Grill” the open sign still glowing in the window.  
          Danny immediately felt the tension upon entering the humble grill, it was not an uninviting place, quite the opposite, but he had neglected to check the restaurant's hours.  He mumbled an apology as he sat down at the bar and shrugged off his bag. Even knowing that his stomach would hate him later, he ordered the first thing he saw on the menu; a grilled chicken thigh with greenbeans and mashed potatoes was certainly calling his name.  
          “Did you just get in?” The bartender asked once Danny had ordered his meal.  
          “Yeah,” Dan played with the lip of his glass of water, his tone dismissive.  
          “Where from?”  The woman behind the counter--her nametag reading Sadie--nonetheless persisted.  
          “Uh, New Jersey.” He chuckled in response.  
          “What brings you this far out?” Sadie lifted an eyebrow, tossing her long, red hair behind her shoulders to pull back up into a ponytail.  
          “Just needed a change of pace.” Danny shrugged.  
          “You staying in town long?”  
          “Oh, no…  I’m catching a train to Moosonee in the morning.”  
          Sadie’s brow wrinkled and she pursed her lips, “You must’ve done something pretty wrong back in the states to want to go _there_.”  
          “Excuse me?” Danny’s brows drew together.  
          “Not saying, like…  Criminal,” Sadie played off with a giggle, “I just mean…  That’s _quite_ a change of pace from New Jersey in the states.”  
          “It’s exactly what I’m looking for.” Dan explained, his expression and tone both flat.  
          “Ah…  Well, your food will be out soon, happy travels to you.”  Sadie left the bar to go visit into the kitchen.  While she did return to deliver Danny’s food, she did not make any further attempts at socialization and just left Danny to eat.  
 _Maybe you shouldn’t be around people at all anymore._ Danny considered in his head as he ate a bite of green beans.  He ate in silence, the only sound in the room a group of men sitting on the opposite side of the bar nursing their beers and mumbling to each other.  His stomach was full, but he still felt empty somewhere inside, the feeling that drove him to keep going until he couldn’t any longer.  
          When the time came, he stood, leaving cash for his meal and his tip.  Without a backward glance, he left the Ice Hut and went back out to the cold streets of the Canadian town.  The wind blew in his face the whole trek back to the train station, but now he was in for mind-numbing hours of boredom until it was time for the final leg of his journey.  It might not have been the _farthest_ that he could go from his home, but it was far enough.  
          Restless and unable to sleep, Danny paced inside the train station.  He picked up travel brochures and bus schedules for light reading, but there was nothing of true interest.  His worn copy of the Peter S. Beagle novel _The Last Unicorn_ was shoved so far down into his bag that he didn’t want to even bother rooting through it to get it out.  Instead, he paced, and paced, and paced some more.  Morning couldn’t come fast enough.


	2. 2

          Danny had little time to assess his ruined sleep schedule once on the train to Moosonee as he slept for most of the journey.  By the time he awoke, they were far into the Canadian wilderness.  The foliage on either side of the train was dense and impenetrable and as it rushed by, Dan couldn’t make out any of the wildlife.  Other than the trees, it seemed completely empty, much like the train car he was in.  Looking about and standing up, Dan saw no one else in his car.  He realized he should have been happy about this so he could stretch out and enjoy his journey.  It depressed him instead, he had been shoved among so many other wayward travelers in the past few days that it seemed wrong for him to be so alone.   
          Humming, he murmured under his breath “What if I’m the only one on the  _ train _ ?”  While he was sure he had seen others board at the Cochrane station, he hadn’t seen hide nor hair of them.  It was always possible that they had exited before this point--and he had been sleeping for awhile.  With cramped legs and that feeling of having passed through the fourth dimension that comes with untimely sleeps, Danny stretched; time for an adventure.   
          “Empty.” Danny said to himself, walking through the adjacent car and on to the next one.  “What the fuck, am I the only one?” He wondered when the next car was also empty.  Was this train  _ really _ just going to Moosonee for him?  That didn’t seem right…  All the same, he didn’t expect much, carrying on to further explore the largest prison he had been stuck on thus far.  It wasn’t until he reached the dining car that he saw another human face.   
          “Hello there!”  A tall, somewhat bulky man waved over to Dan, in his opposite hand he held a bowl that must’ve contained his dinner.  “Welcome.”   
          “Oh, hey.” Dan smiled, happy to finally meet someone that was going the same way he was.  Looking about the items that were available in the car--seemingly for no price at all!--he plucked up a banana and a small carton of milk.  “It’s a ghost town on this train.”   
          “Usually is near the front.  All of us kind of just hang back.” The new face jerked his bearded chin back in the direction of the door that lead to the other seats on the train.  “I’m Arin, what brings you to the Polar Bear Express?”   
          “Dan.” Danny grinned back at the amicable face, “I’m moving to town…  Do you happen to live in Moosonee?”   
          “Yep.” Arin nodded with great enthusiasm, “Wife and daughter live in town too.  What brings you to move out into the frozen buttcrack of the world?”   
          Danny couldn’t help but laugh, it was the funniest thing he had heard in days, “Just needed a change of pace.  I didn’t really plan it out that well…”   
          “Didn’t plan it like…  You don’t have a place to stay?” Arin questioned, Danny surprised by the real concern in his eyes and tone.   
          “No…  Not really, didn’t get that far.  I found some stuff about a guest house in town, though.  I’ll just buy up one of the rooms until I find a place.” Danny explained, hoping he sounded more confident about it than he felt.  He must not have, because Arin’s concern deepened by his eyebrows drawing closer together.   
          “All right.”  Arin took another bite of his cereal as Danny took his first bite of banana.  “I think you’re gonna like it out here.  It’s nothing compared to cities, but I also don’t think you can compare a city to Moosonee.  It’s beautiful out here.”   
          “Oh, I know… I’m from New York City area…  It’s completely different from what I’m used to.” Dan admitted as he realized his hunger was flaring up.  After days of only fast meals and his one actual dinner last night, he felt  _ starving _ .  He was going to need more than just a banana and some milk.   
          “That’s a sudden change.”   
          “Tell me about it.”   
          “Moving for work?”   
          “Ah, no…”  Dan flushed, his stupidity must’ve been evident to just about anyone that he spoke with for longer than five seconds.  Moving out to a place that’s alien to him without an idea where he was going to live or even a job!  Who even did that!  Daniel Avidan, of course…  Fuck-up Extraordinair.  When it came to making other feel better about their lives, he was the guy to look at!   
          “Well,” Arin put out his hand to Danny, waiting for him to clasp it in a strong shake before continuing “If you need anything, I own the brewhouse down by the docks on the edge of town.”   
          “I appreciate it…  I don’t know how much you’ll be seeing me out there.  Until I get a job, I mean.” Danny finished the shake and released Arin’s hand, going back to his banana.  Or he would have, had he not already inhaled the thing.   
          Arin shrugged, leaning back in his chair, “You can just come to hang out sometime, a lot of the locals do.  The fishermen and dock workers are a rowdy group sometimes, though.  It would be a great way for you to meet people.   _ Especially _ if you don’t have a job, my man.”  Dan knew he was going to like Arin, there was just something inherently good about him that could be seen as plain as the smile on his face.   
          “I’ll have to take your advice sometime.” Dan decided.  “I’m gonna get some more to eat, excuse me.” He stood to collect another banana and a box of cereal to go with his carton of milk.  A disposable bowl like the one Arin had was easily found and Dan made himself some delicious, sugary cereal.  “Do you know how far out we are?”   
          “Maybe twenty-five minutes.  I’ll be heading back to my car here soon.” Arin nodded back in the other direction again, focusing on his food and finishing it.   
          “Oh, that soon?”   
          “Soon?” Arin laughed, “You slept the whole way, didn’t you?”   
          “Yeah, I, uh… Have kind of screwed up my sleep schedule.”   
          “Happens to the best of us.”  Arin stood, clapping Danny on the shoulder, “See you when we get to town.” Just like that, he breezed out of the car into the adjacent one.  At least he was already meeting good people, Danny decided.   
  
          For what felt like the hundredth time, Danny stepped off his mode of transit with his feet in a new city.  City, of course, took descriptions too far, it was a town with less than 4,000 inhabitants.  It might not have been anything to look at, but it was going to be home for a long while.  At least until his visa expired…  He hoped it would be enough time to get the things he wanted done.   
          As he stood on the platform, he watched the other people disembark to meet up with families or business partners.  Some were like him and had no one to meet, but as the crowd thinned, Dan found Arin.  He stood with whom Dan presumed to be his wife, a small child that barely came up past Arin’s knee hugging him around his leg.  Smiling, Dan turned to leave, until he heard Arin’s booming voice, “Hey!  Dan!”  He turned back to see Arin grinning and waving his hand, going into a “come here” motion.   
          “Uh, okay,” Dan trotted on over to the small family, a smile on his tired face, “hey.”   
          “Dan, this is my wife Suzy and our little girl,” Arin bent low to pick up the dark-haired child, holding her up to his chest, “Trina.”   
          “Uh, hi!” Dan gave Suzy a wave and then to the small child.  It was an awkward wave to Trina, however, as much as he had fun with kids, they still made him feel rather out of his element.   
          “Suzy, this is Dan, he’s new in town and I thought we could help him get settled while he’s looking for a place to stay.” Arin supplied while Trina giggled and marveled at Danny’s full head of hair.   
          “Nice to meet you.” Suzy offered out a hand, Dan taking it in a soft shake, “I’m sure we could help you; here, let’s exchange numbers, Arin and I have some business to get to.”  As requested, Danny put the couple’s numbers in his phone, but paused to inform them, “I still need to get a phone while I’m up here, so I don’t have a number yet.”   
          “That’s fine, just give us a call or send us a text sometime.” Suzy took Trina from Arin’s arms, bringing her to hip.  “It was great meeting you.” She smiled sweetly and started for the curb of the station.   
          “Hey, see you soon, man.” Arin gave Dan’s shoulder two affectionate slaps before going off after his wife and daughter.   
          “Yeah, soon!” Dan grinned, watching the family leave.  Though he was alone at a train station in an unfamiliar town, he felt better.  It was a new place with new people and experiences waiting to be discovered.  This was  _ exactly _ what he needed


	3. 3

          The Moose River Guesthouse turned out to be the best option for Dan.  Since the town was not all that large, it didn’t take him long to walk there.  At his luck had it, there was an open room, free to be booked for the coming week.  It was a simple signing of his name in the book and shelling out the required expenses to finally have a bed and a bathroom all to himself.  
 _Now what?_ Dan asked himself, looking around the spacious room.  He needed a job, he needed to find a more permanent living space and he needed to actually sit down and think about his life choices.  Slumping his shoulders, he fell back to the bed with a heavy sigh.  Time to explore.  
  
          Exploring was all well and good, except that the town did not have much to itself.  The main town had nothing outside of the bare necessities.  There were grocery stores, a clothing shop here and there, all small and locally-owned, but beyond that, there was nothing.  Moreover, as the large part of the town’s population was First Nation Cree, Danny doubted he’d ever be able to pronounce any of the street names.  Nonetheless, he was going to at least try and not be an asshole.  Without much to really see, and no desire to pay the ferry fee to traverse the waters of the Moose River to the neighboring island, he ended up down by the docks.  
          The river itself was beautiful and seeing so many going about their business on the docks gave him some hope of finding a job.  He would have to talk to some people, for sure, because there certainly was none of the online applying to jobs in this place.  In his careless wandering about, he stumbled upon what was one of two bars in town.  Arin hadn’t been kidding when he said he owned the brewhouse by the docks.  It was actually called _The Brewhouse_ , it certainly had not been hard for Arin to nail down a stellar name like that.  Being that it was late, however, Dan was not so sure on just heading inside…  He could at least say hi.  
          “Hey, Dan.” Arin flagged him down immediately, the owner in the middle of helping his night staff clean up the dining room.  “Sorry, you’re in a bit late, we close early on Sundays.”  
          “Oh, yeah, I’m sorry, uh… I should go, yeah?”  Dan inched back towards the unlocked front door.  
          “Yeah, but stick around!  I’ll be done soon and we can chill, a bit.” Arin offered with a grin and a shrug, “Just got to finish cleaning up.  My car’s out in the lot, the red one, go ahead and have a sit.” With the speed of a young work horse, Arin was gone in a flash, carrying a heavy tote of dishes.  
          Feeling awkward just standing around, Dan took Arin’s advice, retreating to the parking lot outside.  He hadn’t taken three steps away from the closed door before he heard the deadbolt thrown.  So it was like that, then?  Not bothering to glance behind him, Dan located Arin’s car.  Not only was it the _red_ one, but it was also the _only_ car in the lot.  Taking Arin’s advice again, Dan sat down on the hood of the car and let out a heavy breath.  He wondered what this place looked like in winter.  From talking with a few of the locals, it must’ve been a sight.  The whole Moose River froze over in winter.  Ice roads to the neighboring Moose Factory Island were established during the long, harsh winter as boats were incapable of breaking through the thick ice.  With the only true hospital in the area on Moose Factory, Danny shuddered to think of the hazards ambulance drivers must face every year.  
          Under the orange buzz of the light pole, Danny looked up to the sky.  It was beautiful out here at least, the light pollution was very low from the lack of large cities.  At the same time, Danny also knew that meant that _fun_ was going to be in relatively short supply.  The short walk to and from the guesthouse told him that much.  At least, the fun that most city people seemed to enjoy.  Dancing, clubbing, going out and doing crazy things.  Where was he going to go here?  The docks?  The college?  The Brewhouse seemed to be the only logical option.  
          The sound of a door opening far off caught his attention.  Tipping his head down to look towards the Brewhouse, he saw Arin.  Assuming that he was finally off work, Danny stood up straight off the car, starting to head towards him, before noticing that Arin wasn’t going in his direction.  In fact, Arin was going to the very edge of the parking lot, a tray of something in his hands.  Instead of calling to him, or approaching, Danny resettled back onto the hood of the car and watched.  
          Arin set his load down on the farthest edge to where the light of the lamps didn’t even reach.  Danny tipped his head to the side, watching as Arin went back to the door from which he had came and disappeared back inside.  With Arin gone, Danny’s attention went back to what looked to be a tray mounded high with something.  As this was a restaurant, Danny assumed it to be food, but if it was food scraps, why was he putting them out on a tray instead of just throwing them either in the garbage or out in the woods literally ten feet from the edge of the lot?  
          As interesting as it was, it was only _so_ interesting.  Before long at all, Danny diverted his attention elsewhere.  The cry of a bird at night, the squeak of a bat or the hoot of an owl.  Nature surrounded this adorable hamlet on all sides.  It humbled the feeble human structures within it.  There were no roads, after all.  Just the railway, the airport and the occasional boats that passed through the saltwater port.  While that seemed like a lot, Danny had never lived somewhere that he couldn’t just _drive_ to leave before.  Sitting and thinking could also only be so interesting, with his wits finally at their ends, he stood up off the car and headed around to the side door of the restaurant.  
          Stepping into the shadow of the building, Danny knocked on the back door.  He shoved his hands into his pants’ pockets and waited for an answer.  Waited…  Waited…  And waited some more.  He raised his hand to knock once more, but the sound of undergrowth snapping behind him stayed his hand.  Feeling the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, he slowly turned to look behind him.  
          At first, he saw nothing, just the black, featureless expanse of what he knew to be a wall of trees in the daytime.  The sound coming again, however, told him that there _was_ something.  That something was closer than before.  Feeling his heart begin to race, he stepped closer to the restaurant, _bears_ lived out here and frequently came for garbage.  His standing near the garbage did not improve his nerves as he scanned the dark area around him for movement.  After not too long searching, he found what he was looking for.  
          It didn’t look so much like a bear as he was expecting.  It certainly was big, built like a brick house, and moved on all fours, but instead of a blunt muzzle, Danny made out a longer, more pointed muzzle in the thrown light of the parking lot.  Instead of round, nubby ears, the creature had tall, pointed ones that swiveled about.  Eventually, they swiveled his way and he held his breath as the animal lifted its head, two floating lights telling Danny that it was looking straight at him.  Danny’s heart beat faster, he kept his breath held, he was sweating and felt like he was going to pass out.  
          Danny jumped with a terrified shout as the back door of the Brewhouse opened, Arin, shouting right back at him in equal surprise.  
          “What are you doing?!” Arin quickly asked, “Trying to give me a heart attack!?”  
          “N-N-No!” Danny tried to spit out his terror, gesturing with trembling hands in the direction of the beast he had seen before, “There’s a bear!”  
          “A bear?!” Arin spun around on his heels, raising his hands up above him, charging at and yelling into the darkness of the woods.  He looked like a right idiot and that was the last thing Danny had expected him to do.  
          “Uh…”  Dan’s heart still raced as Arin came to a stop at the edge of the pavement.  
          “Dude, there’s no bear.” Arin put his hands down, seeing nothing unusual behind his restaurant.  “Don’t scare me like that.”  
          “No, there was something there.” Danny tried to impress, there had been a _reason_ for him standing where he was.  
          “I believe you saw something, I just don’t think it was a bear.” Arin shrugged, walking back to Dan “What were you doing back here?”  
          “If it wasn’t a bear what was it?”  
          “Lots of things live in these woods.” Arin easily passed it off and motioned for Danny to follow him inside.  He glanced back at the dense forest, but with an almost disappointed expression, he trod back inside with his new friend.  
          “Lots of things like… What?” Danny needed more information if he was going to be living here.  Other than bears and moose and caribou, what _else_ was there to be worried about?  
          “I think it’s a story for another time.” Arin smiled to him, “All you need to know right now, is it’s harmless and won’t approach you.”  
          “That’s a good deal less assuring than I was hoping for.” Danny flatly responded.  
          “Well, it’s what you’re getting, so deal with it.” Arin chuckled and walked off, surveying his kitchen one last time to make sure everything was as clean as possible.  “Don’t want to scare you off the town too soon!”  
          “I’m not really going anywhere… I spent too much money to come out here.” Danny craned his head around, trying to see Arin through the metal shelves of cook and plateware. “Besides, I got nothing to do, I’m down for a good story if you’re up for telling it.”  
          “How about tomorrow evening?” Arin called back.  “Come over here, man.”  
Dan hopped at Arin’s voice, weaving through the kitchen to where his voice was coming from, “I’m not doing anything tomorrow besides job or apartment hunting.  I’m also not doing anything tonight…”  
          “It’s a waaay long story and I’d rather not do it tonight.” Arin kept avoiding all the way up until Dan came upon him and a few of his employees eating some leftovers.  “Hey guys, this is Dan, he’s new in town, say hi.”  
          Dan waved his hands as the crew of men and women waved to him and gave him friendly hellos.  He was already meeting plenty of people and it was only his first day!  Nonetheless, Dan knew a time would come that he met everyone in town.  With so few people living in a relatively tiny space, new faces must’ve been few and far between.  Or, if they weren’t, it wasn’t often that the new faces stayed for as long as he planned to.  
          “What story isn’t he telling you?” An older man with straight, greying black hair asked, popping a small piece of fruit into his mouth.  
          “Uh…  I sa--”  
          “The big wolf story.” Arin cut Dan short.  
          “Oh…”  The older man was as silent as the rest of the employees, continuing to pick at the leftovers, “Well…  Don’t worry yourself about him, bud.  He’s not going to bother you.”  
          “See, you guys keep saying that, but it doesn’t make me feel any better.” Dan chuckled, a nervous quaver in his voice.  
          “And it doesn’t make our statements any less true.” One of the younger women on staff chipped in, making Dan feel pretty stupid.  
          “Ah, yeah…  Uh…”  Why was he even in here?  Why hadn’t Arin just told him to go home?  Probably because he was taking pity on his lonely soul, but he didn’t want pity here.  
          “You hungry?” Arin motioned to an empty stool from the bar that had been dragged back. “Chat with us for a bit.”  
          “Oh, uh, thanks!” Danny took the chair and looked at the food that was left over from the night. French fries, cubed meat he didn’t recognize and other bar foods.  Gingerly, he picked at a few fries, swallowing them down quickly and realizing how hungry he was, “So, is this a regular thing?”  
          “For the most part.” Arin nodded, “Sometimes Suzy is here if Trina is with my parents.”  He plucked up a piece of meat from the platter and popped it into his mouth.  Dan followed suit, making a face as the texture was something he didn’t recognize.  “Where are you from?”  
          “Um,” Dan pushed the meat into one cheek, covering his mouth while he spoke “I know I said New York City, but I was born in New Jersey.” He kept chewing until he just had to ask “What kind of meat is this?”  
          “Deer tongue.” One of the employees answered, the others chuckling at Danny’s face, “That one still had the peel on it too.”  
          “There’s a _peel_?” Danny asked after swallowing.  
          “Yep.” Arin picked up another piece of meat, this one a lighter color than the rest.  Finding a slice in the side of it, he took the sheath off with his nails, setting it aside and offering the piece out, “I promise it’s a _lot_ more appetizing without it.”  
          “Leave it to me to pick the one on the plate that wasn’t ready to eat.” Danny laughed, seeing the Brewhouse employees nod and smile as they continued to eat.  Accepting the softer cube of meat from Arin he gave it another try.  “Wow, tender.”  Never thought he would ever eat deer tongue before, but this was definitely a more positive experience without the chewy sheath.  
          “Get settled in at the guesthouse?” Arin asked with due concern, “A roof over your head at least?”  
          “Oh, yeah!  The lady that owns the place is real sweet.  It’s good for what I need right now.” Danny swiped up another piece of tongue, being careful to pay attention to color this time.  
          “Keme rents out a few of the properties in town, I know he’s got at least one that’s empty.” Arin offered, “Just come in sometime in the evening on a Friday or a Saturday and I can make sure you two meet.”  
          “Oh, you don’t have to do tha--”  
          “No, but I want to.” Arin cut him off with a big smile, “What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t give you a little help?”  
          “That’s very kind of you.”  Danny worked up a grin just as wide as Arin’s smile.  Where did such a warm heart originate from?  Apparently way up in the frozen north in a tiny town.  “You know, we just met today, but I feel like I’ve known you forever.”  
          “Me too, dude.”  Arin’s smile didn’t waver as he returned to his food.  Dan, however, didn’t miss the looks the cooks and waitstaff gave him.  Was it pity?  Or was it hope?  Dan couldn’t say, and he didn’t dare ask.  He was still a newcomer and even though Arin made him feel at home, he knew there were still limits.  
          Dan stayed with the night crew until it was time for everyone to leave.  As they had fed him and provided him much-needed company, he offered to clean up the small section of counter they had all clustered around.  He wiped the stainless steel and scrubbed the dishes while the stools were all returned to the bar.  In the back of his mind, he wondered if Arin needed any more employees, but he wouldn’t push for that yet, if he ever would.  Arin was already helping him in so many ways, he didn’t want to put the stress of hiring him on as an employee as well.  
          “Do you need a ride back to the guesthouse?”  Arin asked, locking up the back door and testing it once everyone was out.  
          “No, I think I’m good to walk.  Don’t want to keep you out any later.” Danny shrugged, glancing back at the forest again before back to Arin.  
          “Dude, I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” Arin leaned in, prompting Danny to do the same, “but this town is like… five blocks deep and ten wide, you’re literally five minutes away from me.”  
          Danny laughed, standing up straight again, “Well, if you’re offering, I won’t say no.” he confessed.  
          “Aight, right this way.” Arin drove Danny back to his temporary living space and gave him a solid wave before heading home himself.  Dan would venture to say that the first night in town had been a success, now it was just going to be the next _week_ that he was going to have to get through.  Somehow, after meeting Arin though, he knew it wasn’t going to be as long a slog as he had originally thought.  
***  
          The first order of business for Danny was furiously applying for jobs.  He went everywhere in town.  He applied at the Big Sky restaurant in the center of town as a waiter and cook, at the general and grocery stores and eventually found himself down at the docks by Wednesday.  The application process down with the fishermen and dock workers was a lot less formal than filling out papers.  It more came down to volunteering and talking.  His Thursday was tiring and dragged a bit, but it gained him one thing that he had been hoping for.  
          Nadie, the supervisor of one of the shipping companies from the James Bay area seemed to like him well enough.  She shook his hand and asked what made him feel he was qualified to work for her.  He was whippet-thin in comparison to many of the other men and women that hauled product to and from the boats that visited Moosonee’s docks.  The best answer he could muster was that he was a dedicated and hard worker, though his uncallused hands betrayed his relatively posh living back in the US.  All he had gotten out of the venture was a “We might be able to work something out” and that was the best he was going to hope for.  
          Each night, however, he found himself back at Arin’s restaurant.  The Brewhouse really did attract many faces in the town and Arin knew _everyone_.  As Danny sat at the bar, Arin pointed out people and what they did.  Nadie was there with her coworkers, members of the contracting company played a game of dice on a corner tabletop and lonely bar flies came to sit, drink and tell their stories to those that would listen. Danny felt there was a bit of a lonely hearts club going on here, but he wasn’t about to join.  It didn’t seem possible for a queer boy to find much of anyone in such a small town where everyone already knew each other.  That wasn’t what he was here for.  
          “So, big man.” Danny approached as Friday evening brought him into the Brewhouse yet again, “You told me on _Sunday_ that you would tell me the ‘big wolf story’ on _Monday_.” he was smiling as he spoke over the rim of his mostly full glass of beer, “It’s Friday now and I’ve still not heard shit about it.”  
          Arin looked up from wiping down the bar with a smirk, “Here I thought you had forgotten.”  
          “I’m kind of a storyteller myself, I can’t resist a good one.”  
          “You’re going to have to sing us a song here sometime.  You keep talking about writing music, but you never play any.”  
          “Don’t try to deflect, here, Aer.” Danny laughed, flushing a little, “You know I can’t _really_ play any instruments anyway.”  
          “I had a friend teach me how to play guitar a while ago.  We could be a duo, or something.” Arin recommended, Danny seeing right through him.  
          “Are you going to tell me the story, or not?” Dan sipped his beer with a smirk of his own.  
          “Okay, okay.” Arin hummed as if trying to figure out where to start from, “You see, out here, we have some interesting wildlife.  The native Crees have stories about the animals and how the world came to be--”  
          “You’re telling me some monster from Cree legend lives out in the woods?” Danny raised his eyebrows, a disbelieving smile on his lips.  
          “No, not exactly.  I’m merely prefacing here that the Crees do believe that these creatures exist.  Or if they don’t believe it exactly, they’re at least skeptical.  The…   _Creatures_ may not be exactly as they are in the legends, but as most all native cultures across North America do have stories of shape-shifters, it’s impossible for all of them to be wrong, right?” Arin tried to reason with Dan’s heavy skepticism.  
          “I wouldn’t call that proof, if we could look at it like that, dragons should be real since all cultures have shit about that.  Or… Or vampires.” Dan argued. “Werewolves too, maybe, there’s the monster in French legends and skinwalkers in the US.”  
          Arin shrugged, “Are you going to let me tell the story or not?”  
          “Okay, yeah, sorry.” Danny sat back and folded his arms over his chest, his perfect listening pose.  
          “This part isn’t Cree legend and I don’t know if any First Nation folks have a story like this, but here’s the town story.  Sometimes a man so good comes along that he’s made the town protector.  He’s kind and caring and so full of love that it spills out of him into the people around him.  Imagine someone…   _So good_ it makes you want to cry.”  
          “Uh-huh.” Dan nodded along, he couldn’t rightly say that he had ever met someone _quite_ with such a heart of gold.  
          “Now, a person so good is hard to come by, there’s only one in every billion people, maybe fewer than that…  You can’t always ask for this man, this _person_ to constantly be giving and giving and never receiving.  Sometimes even one, or a handful of people giving back cannot be enough to sustain this wonderful, _giving_ person.  Not because they are greedy, but because beneath all this goodness there is still flesh and blood, a person who deserves all the love the world can afford.”  
          “Okay, Arin, you’re sort of talking in circles.”  
          “Sorry, was just… Painting the picture.” Arin looked about the bar for anyone that needed a refill or to order food, finding none, he continued, “Now…  When a person so good is hurt by the ones most closest to them…  The results can be catastrophic.  It can make a man into…  Something else.  When trust and love are so broken, sometimes we might resolve to never trust or love again.  Sometimes we put up barriers or choose to wear fur to protect us from those feelings.”  
          While the story had begun with Danny smiling, the more he listened, the more his smile faded.  His heart squirmed and his stomach flipped inside of him.  
          “It might make a person run away from human contact altogether…”  Arin’s voice grew softer and his gaze drifted down to the woodgrain of the bar.  The bell of the front door caught his attention though and his eyes flicked up, “Oh,” Arin’s grin was firmly back in place, lifting a hand to wave, “Keme!  Great to see you buddy!”  
          Danny turned to look behind him to the man who had just walked in.  Like most of the other patrons, he had dark skin and black hair.  His hair hung about his shoulders with shocks of grey through it with age, “That the guy you mentioned on Sunday?”  
          “Yeah, hey, I can finish this story later, you need to meet this guy.” Arin knocked on the wood and motioned for Keme to come over to them.  
          With an amicable expression, Keme heeded Arin’s beckon and came to sit at the bar next to Danny, “Good evening, Arin.  Is this the new face I’ve been hearing about?” The elder man looked to Danny with a kind light in his eyes, he offered his hand.  
          Not one to refuse, Dan took the hand and shook it, “Danny, you’re Keme, right?”  
          “Yes, it’s nice to meet you, Arin has mentioned to me that you’re looking for a place to rent out?”  
          “Yeah, actually.”  Dan hadn’t even noticed that Arin had stepped away to tend to other patrons, leaving him with this new man.  “Uh, he said you had at least one property open?”  
          “Yes, I do…  Under ordinary circumstances I would be hesitant, but Arin has assured me of your character.” Keme nodded, sending a glance Arin’s way before going back to Danny.  
          “Oh, well…” Danny felt himself flushing, also giving Arin a glance, “He’s been too kind to me since I got here.”  
          Keme nodded, “Arin has much love to give back to everyone here.  Even to people that don’t always deserve it, if you ask me.”  Keme’s eyes focused on something far in the distance and through the wall of the Brewhouse for a few moments.  Danny didn’t dare interrupt the reels his mind must’ve been going through.  “You seem like a deserving individual, though.  I’m always for helping friends of friends.”  
          “I’m glad Arin speaks so highly of me.”  
          “When do you have free time this weekend?  I try to keep my Sundays free for my family, but if you have the time that day, I would be happy to show you the space I have for rent.”  
          “That works perfectly for me.  Um, what kind of apartment is it?”  
          “It’s not an apartment, it’s a house.” Keme admitted, “Fully furnished.”  
          Danny’s heart sank, “Oh…  Uh, that might be a bit out of my price range.  Do you have anything smaller?”  
          Keme hummed, “We can work something out.  Arin is a dear friend and assures me you’re trustworthy.”  
          Wow, just _how much_ had Arin been saying about him?  
          “Okay, uhm, how does…. Sunday at two sound?”  
          “Can we make it three?  My family takes lunch late.” Keme negotiated.  
          “Yeah, sure, I got nothing to do all day, three is fine.” Dan accepted, Keme responding back “We have a deal, let me give you the address.”  Pulling out his pen, Keme wrote down all the necessary things on a nearby bar napkin.  He was even nice enough to provide directions from the Moose River Guesthouse to the rental space.  “Thank you….” Danny held the napkin and read it over, checking for anywhere that was unclear.  “Can I buy you a drink?” He needed to express his gratitude somehow.  
          Keme’s brows lifted, the stern line of his wrinkled lips cracking into a bare smile, “Thank you, I’ll have a Labatt Ice.”  So Danny flagged Arin back to them, ordering Keme’s beer and when it arrived, Keme and Dan toasted to one another, spending the night chatting.  
***  
          Danny stepped into the small house.  Everything inside was coated in a fine layer of dust and when Keme had said that it was fully furnished, he had really meant it.  The place was hardly stylish with mismatched furniture, but it was homey.  
          “Did they just leave all their stuff here?” Danny asked, wandering deeper into the house.  
          “Yeah…  There was some upheaval.” Keme explained, looking about as well while Dan got comfortable with the space.  “Two beds, two baths, has a backyard and full kitchen.” Keme closed the door behind them, going to sit on the couch by the door.  
          “Upheaval…?  No one died in here did they?” Dan cringed a bit, looking to an overturned picture frame.  
          “No, no one died.” Keme shook his head, watching as Dan sat the picture frame upright again to look at the photo.  “They used to live here.”  
          Danny examined the faces of the two men, both smiling.  One was tall and thin, the other was a bit shorter and burlier, brown hair slowly turning to grey at his temples and kind, sparkling blue eyes. Dan could say he was definitely his type, but he didn’t know how rude that was to assume; this house had a story in it, just like everything else in this town, “What happened to them?”  
          The landlord, frowned, “Terrence, the tall one, left the other one.” Keme stood and stepped over to take the picture from Danny’s hands and sat it on the end table face down again.  “None of us liked Terrence that much, but we all loved Brian and he loved Terrence.  He was a professor at the college, very bright, interesting man.  Always talking about ways he wanted to help the community or his students, wanted a family.”  There was a mournful tone in Keme’s voice, it made Danny’s heart sink.  
          “Oh…  So… Is he…?”  Dan always assumed the worst when it came to people like him.  
          “No, he’s not dead, as far as we know.  He disappeared.  Terrence skipped town as soon as he could and Brian evaporated.  Left everything in here to me to rent out as I please.” Keme let out a sigh, pushing his longer hair back over his shoulder.  “You’re the first person I’ve considered letting it to.”  
          “Thank you.” Danny had a sudden new respect for the home.  “How much did you say a month?”  
          “You’re new here, I’ll let it to you for 750.” Keme nodded, stepping aside to look into the kitchen.  The magnets on the fridge spoke of the previous owners’ travel all over the world.  Danny followed his landlord and looked at each of these magnets.  There were ones from New York, Virginia, New Jersey, California, _London_ and Paris…  
          “I think we have a deal, when do you want my deposit and first month’s rent?” Danny asked, turning from the refrigerator.  
          “Whenever you get it, I know you don’t have a job yet.  I’d appreciate it before the twentieth, but just keep me updated.”  
          “Wow…  Thank you so much, I’ll get it to you as soon as possible.”  Danny was used to landlords flaying you alive for not having money exactly when they wanted it.  Keme’s kindness was startling and not meant to be toyed with. “I can give you half of it today.”  
          Keme raised his eyebrows, “That’s perfectly fine with me.” He smiled, rubbing a finger underneath his nose along his thin mustache.  
          “I’ll also try to keep things the way they are, in case…  You know, he ever shows back up.” This was still someone else’s home.  Danny might be living in it soon, but it wasn’t his place.  
          Keme nodded, a respectful “hm” leaving his throat, “I appreciate it.”  
          “Were you two close?” Danny pulled his rucksack in front of him, digging down into it and making sure he counted out 475 _before_ taking the cash out.  Lately he seemed like a walking bank with all the cash he slung around and he was just waiting for the right moment for someone to mug his ass and strike gold.  His journey would’ve gone a whole different way had he been left destitute.  
          Keme accepted the money, a surprised look on his face at first; he counted it over before reaching into his satchel and storing the cash into a vinyl envelope, “Yes, we were familiar with each other.  Spent a lot of time at Arin’s Brewhouse.” Keme fell silent for a few moments, mulling something over in his head.  “I think…”  Then his eyes lit up as if finally coming to a decision, “If you want to learn more, I’d ask Arin.  He was Brian’s best friend before he disappeared.  He was Trina’s godfather.”  
          “Oh.” It was Danny’s turn to be the surprised one, “I wouldn’t want to overstep…”  
          “It’s been two years, the wounds aren’t nearly so fresh.  Time heals everything, as they say.”  Keme reached back into his satchel and pulled out the house keys, holding them out to Danny, “Arin hasn’t been the same since Brian left.  I think a new ear would be best for him anyway.”  
          Danny accepted the keys with a nod, “If he’s willing to talk, I’m always around to listen.” he assured.  
          “I’ll make sure he knows it.” Keme answered back, “You may move in whenever you wish, my address for rent drop is on the refrigerator.”  
          “I know I’ve said this a million times, but really, thank you so much.”  
          Keme gave him a nod, “I’m not one of those people that believes words like ‘love’ or ‘thanks’ lose their meaning with frequency.”  Giving Dan a final wave, he left the house, leaving Dan to explore his new abode by himself.  
  
          The house was full of knickknacks and artifacts of life that told stories Dan did not know.  A doctoral degree hung on the wall in the office; a picture of Brian holding a newborn in his arms and nearly in tears was in that same office and on the wall above an abandoned computer was an aged photo of a man and woman, perhaps in their fifties.  The magnets on the refrigerator in the kitchen must’ve held many stories too, there were national parks on the fridge and university alumni--most notably the university of San Diego, the same as the name on the PhD in the office.  Dan considered entering what he knew to be the master bedroom, out of respect, he refrained, going for the smaller bedroom.  What he found was a nursery, the walls painted in soft greens, the ceiling a sunny yellow.  Books on parenting were stacked on a white and pink elephant-shaped table…  The crib in the middle of the room stood only half painted and plastic was still taped to the wooden floor.  Most might find staying in such a home uncomfortable, but to Dan it was like a mystery novel.  
          Going further into the house, Dan came to an upstairs office.  This one surprised him the most, he found what could have passed for a makeshift music studio.  An acoustic guitar and an electric bass stood on stands in the corner of the room and in the center was a keyboard.  With ginger steps, he entered the artist’s sanctum, a chill running up his spine.  The master bedroom might _not_ be the most sacred place in this house, what was more personal than an artist’s own workspace?  
          Walking up to the keyboard, Danny pressed the “on” button, seeing the tell-tale red light glow to life.  Fingers to the keys, he played a minor scale, the most that he was really capable of.  In truth, Danny had never had too much talent for playing music, his instrument was his voice, still, he knew _some_ things.  He wondered when this house last heard any music.  Looking up from the keys, he got his answer.  A book of staff sheets was still open on the instrument, the top of the page reading winter of two years ago.  What was the title of the work?  
          “Mutant Loofah Sponges (From The Corner Store)?” Danny let out a slight chuckle, moving the stool back to sit down at the board.  Finding the specified setting on the keyboard fairly quickly, he looked at the first few lines the artist had written.  If one thing was certain, Danny could not say that the music was average.  It was upbeat and fast, it made him feel like he was going on an adventure, all too soon, however, Danny reached the end of the written page.  Curious about the possible treasure trove he had found, Danny flipped back through the book of staff pages.  There were many songs listed inside, some were long and some were only as long as fifteen seconds!  One even had the title of “Things Will Never Be the Same (I’ve Applied Too Much Ketchup To This Hamburger)” and Danny could not resist the ridiculous laughter that nearly had him doubled over.  
          “Wow.” Danny kept giggling, continuing to look through the book.  Had this been Terrence’s notebook?  One swift look at the byline at the top of one of the pages told him the book belonged to Brian Wecht, but the second name on the byline of another song took him by surprise, “Arin Hanson…”  Dan slumped a little, the pieces of another puzzle falling in line; _Brian_ had taught Arin to play guitar.  He sat the book aside, back where he found it.  As he stood, he felt his pay-as-you-go phone ring in his pocket and he fumbled for a few seconds to answer it.  
          “Hello?  Dan speaking.”  
          “Hello, Dan, this is Nadie, are you still interested coming to work down at the docks?”  
 _Hell, yes_.


	4. 4

          With a home and a job, Danny settled into a rhythm.  He woke up early every morning and ran down to the docks.  From nine AM until five PM, he worked, hauling goods of all shapes and sizes from boats and back onto them.  In the chilly spring air, he sweated and felt that the work was never becoming any easier.  His body had always frustrated him in his inability to gain muscle or weight of any kind.  At the end of the day, however, his cares always eased the moment he stepped into the Brewhouse.  
          Even better, some nights, Dan came home with Arin.  Suzy was a delight and Trina loved him.  She clung to his gangly legs as he stepped around the house.  She giggled at how big he was and how ridiculous his hair was and was never quite able to pronounce his name correctly.  The best she could manage was “Denny” or “Dammy”.  Her parents _urged_ her to only say the former.  
          “You’re just a little face-hugger aren’t you?” Danny teased, the five-year-old blinking and looking back to her parents, “Mama, what’s a face-hugger?”  
          “Um…”  Suzy gave Dan a long-suffering look.  “It’s a cute creature that looks like a scorpion.  And hugs people it likes!”  It was only half a lie… Right?  
          “Oh!”  And she got right back to hugging Danny’s huge head of hair, “I’m gonna hug you the hawdest.  Because I wike you a wot!” Trina screamed and Danny laughed as he resigned himself to his fate.  
          In just a few short weeks he already felt like he was part of the family.  It was normal to expect to be pushed against by a small community that was so close-knit.  He hadn’t found any of that here, through Arin, Keme and Nadie, Dan was made to feel like this was already home.  In the hustle and bustle of the passing weeks, he had nearly forgotten his reason for coming out here at all.  However, maybe his luck was running out; one night, near closing, Arin sat down next to him at the bar, a soda in his hand.  
          “I’m glad to see you’re adjusting nicely.” Arin nudged him with his shoulder.  
          “I don’t think I could’ve done it so easily without you.” Dan’s eyes sparkled with all the gratitude in the world.  
          “Don’t mention it…  But…  If you _did_ want to pay me back…  Why’d you come out here?” Arin looked up from his drink, a serious expression on his often jovial face.  
          “Ah…”  Danny pushed his Molson away from him, propping his jaw up into one of his hands.  
          “If you’re gonna tell me ‘it’s a long story,’ I already call that as my line.” Arin chuckled, nudging him again.  
          “Heh, okay, so… How about I say ‘it is a dialog of much length’?”  Dan laughed more when Arin gave him a playful shove, “Okay, all right, uh…  It’s still kinda new to me, so…  Can I just tell part of it tonight?”  
          “Whatever you’re comfortable with, man.” Arin agreed, setting his soda aside, looking the definition of “all ears”.  
          “All, right.  Okay.”  Danny had to decide the best way to sum up the whirl of the past few months of his life.  Not having to give Arin the whole story was a relief, nonetheless, it didn’t diminish the difficulty of speaking on the subject.  He could just say “my whole life fell apart before my eyes and it was completely my fault” and leave it at that, but he knew it wouldn’t satisfy Arin.  In the end, it was still avoiding talking about it.  All the while that he debated and fought with himself, Arin sat by quietly, a placid smile on his face.  
          “I don’t know if starting at the beginning is the best,”  Danny began, “because what _I_ call the start, wasn’t really the beginning of this whole thing going to shit.”  
Arin frowned, but remained a silent companion, nodding for Danny to continue.  
          “So, um…  I was a marketing major in college.”  
  
 _Danny sighed as he looked over his grades.  He didn’t understand why things always turned out like this.  It wasn’t like he was on academic probation or anything, but with the grades he had before himself, he didn’t see his college career lasting much longer.  Sure, these were only midterms and he had the time to make the grades up… He sighed again._ _  
_ _Plucking up the orange bottle, his name “Leigh Daniel Avidan” printed in neat letters on the side of it, he shook out his nightly dose of pills and downed them with water.  If he felt this bad on his medication and things were still going this badly in school as well…  What was even the point in taking them?  With the fortitude of someone in far better mental health than he actually was, Danny tossed the orange bottle into the trash._ _  
_ _  
_“Oh…” Arin nodded, “Are you at least happier without them?”  
          “I don’t really know.” Danny shrugged, “It’s been such a flurry of activity, I haven’t had time to think about it.”  
          “I guess that’s a good thing, then.” Arin tried to crack a smile, but failed ultimately.  
          Remaining silent for a few extra seconds, Dan nodded, more to himself than Arin, “I know not everyone can do it, but for me, I think it was the right choice.” He let himself chuckle “Probably the only _good_ decision I’ve made.”  
          “Okay, so…  Anything else you want to share?” Arin didn’t press him, more just gave him a gentle nudge.  
          “Sure, yeah.”  
  
 _“Dan, we have to talk.”  The tone of Steve, the manager, was heavy and ominous._ _  
_Shit _.  Danny thought to himself, looking up from the register he had just signed into, “Uh, sure, Steve.  Can we do it here?”_ _  
_ _“No, I’d rather we speak in private.” That sealed it, Danny felt a cold chill run down his spine.  “Let Mandy run the register for a bit.”  Steve made a motion with his hand for Dan to follow and Danny didn’t need to go all the way back to Steve’s office to know what was coming._ _  
_ _Resigned to his fate, Danny tapped the button to sign him out of his register with one spindly finger and followed his boss back.  Once the door closed, Dan drooped his shoulders, seeing the beige envelope of his employee file sitting on the edge of the desk._ _  
_ _“Before we get started on what we need to talk about, how are you feeling?” Dan hated it when Steve did this.  It was just another way for him to probe how fit he was to be employed here.  Managers never truly gave a shit, it was always just because they wanted to invade your personal life.  Once upon a time, Danny thought Steve honestly cared.  With his hours slowly dwindling to nothing, however, he learned his lesson too late._ _  
_ _“What did you want to see me for?” Danny questioned, his face flat, his intonation blut._ _  
_ _“What about your parents?  Have you smoothed anything over with them?” Steve continued to press._ _  
_ _“My parents have nothing to do with my job, Steve.” Danny pointed out, urging him to move on from the subject._ _  
_ _“Okay, fine.  Dan, I’ve been looking over your performance the past few months and I think we’re going to have to go in our different directions.”_ _  
_ _“So, a fancy way to say I’m fired?”  Dan raised his scarred eyebrow._ _  
_ _Steve pursed his lips, pressing them into a stern, yet thoughtful line “I just think that this isn’t the place you need to be right now.  I have you marked as eligible to be rehired, but I’m going to need you to sort things in your personal life out first.”_ _  
_ _“Can you just say I’m fired so I can leave?” Danny sighed._ _  
_ _“Do you want to finish your shift today?” Steve shrugged._ _  
_ _“Yeah, I guess.”  Even though Danny really didn’t want to and just thought “_ What’s the point?” _there really wasn’t any._  
  
          “Sorry to stop you dude, Suzy’s calling.” Arin patted his new friend’s shoulder, seeing the heavy frown on Dan’s face as he recounted the events.  “Just one second.”  
          “No problem, man.” Dan finished what was left of his light beer, leaning on the bar with his elbows.  As he examined the woodgrain of the bar, he paid little attention to what Arin was talking about on the phone, it mostly boiled down to “Sweetie, sweetie, please stop crying, what’s wrong?” and “I can’t understand you, please try to calm down.”  
          Danny looked up from the bar to Arin, finding his face sheet white underneath his facial hair.  Something was very wrong indeed.  
          “Aer?  What happened?” Dan sat up straight, a few other patrons had likewise paused their eating and speaking to pay attention to the beloved bar-owner’s horror.  
          “I’ll tell everyone, we need to get a search party going.  Have you already called Chogan?” Arin nodded and Danny stood up as Keme and several others in the bar did as well.  Things were rarely good when the phrase “search party” was spoken along with the name of the town sheriff.  Everyone waited patiently until Arin ended his phone call and pocketed his cell.  With a shaky breath, he stood and with a quaver in his voice, he announced “Trina is missing.”  
  
          The next few hours of Danny and the town’s life became a flurry of action.  It had already been close to sunset and night was falling fast.  The townsfolk ran home to grab everything from flashlights, to extra blankets and snacks in case they found the young girl cold and hungry.  Danny, meanwhile, stayed near Arin as he rapidly threw the bar together to close.  At the very least, he couldn’t leave leftover food sitting out.  Danny bussed dishes and cleaned tables as the rest of the staff hurried to get everything in order.  
          By the time everything had been cleaned, it was already dark, the search party, lead by a few of the community’s most prominent members had already begun their work.  Dan knew it pained Arin that he couldn’t be there with them or with Suzy during this scary time.  He hoped that after all of this had been resolved and Trina returned home, he would never have to see Arin crying as he raced about his work again.  Or crying ever again, really.  
          “Arin?” Danny came into the kitchen after everyone else had left.  He could’ve swore he saw Arin come back here.  “Yo, buddy, we have to go meet up with Suzy and the search party.  Where are you?”  His voice carried through the steel shelves and the racks of dishes, but there was still no answer.  “Maybe…?”  He mumbled to himself, weaving his way to the back door of the kitchen that sat propped open with a brick.  “Garbage.” Dan decided,  stepping up to the door and nudging it open.  Though he saw Arin standing by himself in the dark backlot of the restaurant, he didn’t immediately call out to him, he was on the phone, his shoulders slumped, face to the pavement.  Keeping his presence a secret, Danny stood silent in the doorway, watching the light of the full moon glimmer off Arin’s sheeny hair.  He watched as Arin ended his call and looked up; Dan caught him glancing at something to the edge of the parking lot, but he couldn’t say was it was.  Though, Danny didn’t have time from there either to either speak to Arin or wonder what it was, because the man’s shoulders tensed and he bolted for the treeline.  
          “Shit.” Danny cursed to himself, Arin didn’t have a flashlight and the moonlight was only so effective once you broke the line of the dense trees.  “Wait!” Dan called, giving Arin chase into the trees.  With his long stride, he didn’t even have to think about it as he vaulted over an empty tray of what used to be food scraps before breaking into the dense foliage.  Going by the sound of something crashing through the branches and leaves, Danny followed Arin.  He heard him yelling far off, but the trees and space both dampened the sound to the point of making him unintelligible.  
          Dan’s chest heaved as he pushed himself harder, what was he shouting?  Ryan?  “Brian?” Danny questioned out loud between labored breaths.  His lungs stung and his legs felt like they were on fire, his arms and face burned from the whips of 100 or so thin branches of trees he passed and he slid in the damp mud of the undergrowth a few times.  Where was the idiot going?!  Suzy had just lost track of Trina, she couldn’t afford to have Arin go missing as well!  By god, Dan was not going to let that happen and in the flurry of his thoughts, Dan hadn’t even realized that he could no-longer hear a second set of footfalls.  Had Arin stopped?  Or was he just too far away to hear now?  
          Slowing his speed, Dan began to creep.  He didn’t want to surprise Arin in case he was just trying to have some private time.  Nonetheless, his heavy breaths would’ve probably given him away anyway.  Still, as Danny trekked the forest, he began to hear Arin’s voice again.  It was strained from tears and exhaustion, at least Danny knew he had found him and could take him back to the town.  Before long, Arin came into view in a clearing under the bright moonlight.  He was crumpled to the ground, face in the dirt, curled in next to his knees, his hands gripped at the mud and rotting leaves and Dan crept all the quieter, his breathing finally evening out.  
          Licking his lips to begin speaking, Dan’s breath caught in his throat.  Arin wasn’t alone…  The hair on Dan’s arms and on the back of his neck stood up straight and his heart raced in his chest.  Arin was _sobbing_ before the form of what looked like a massive bear.  Shaking in terror, Dan hid behind a thick tree, only allowing himself peek out from behind it.  The thing, the _monster_ wasn’t a bear at all, but something Dan had never seen before.  
          Standing as tall as a horse and as powerful as a tank, Dan decided that beast was some kind of wolf.  A wolf whose front legs closer resembled the arms of a body-builder, all of its weight supported on what would’ve been the balls of a palm.  Its claws looked more like fingers than Dan cared to admit and perhaps they really were fingers because each was tipped with what looked like something sharp and black.  Dan swallowed as he looked at the beasts sloping back, it had a long, furry tail that stood as tall and erect as its pointed ears.  In the light, it looked silver, or perhaps it was white or maybe grey, he couldn’t tell, but either way, this monster was poised to kill his new friend, for sure.  What could he do though?  
          “Please! She never did anything wrong!” Dan jumped as Arin finally made coherent noises, the beast’s glowing, blue eyes pointed down at the curled man.  “Everything was just our fault.  Please, just….  She’s only five, please.” Arin continued to sob, making Dan nearly cry as well.  
          The wolf-monster silently observed Arin on the ground, ears and tail relaxing into more neutral states.  As its head slouched down closer to Arin, Dan saw the monster had a bald spot between its right ear and eye.  He struggled to control his breathing all the same, though its chops were not pulled back into a snarl, it didn’t mean the beast was any less likely to kill Arin.  In fact, it took a step closer to him, the movement almost reminding Dan of a gorilla if they walked on paws instead of their knuckles.  The claws came very close to Arin’s face, but the new position allowed Dan to see that the monster even had thumbs.  
          “Please….  Please, man…” Arin sniffled, his face covered in dirt and tears. “She needs your help.”  
          The monster’s ears drooped to rest back against the ruff of fur around its neck, and it made a quiet growling noise.  More of a grunt, almost like it understood what Arin was asking for.  
          Arin reached a hand out of the dirt, laying it on top of the monster’s front paw, but he flinched back quickly as the monster hopped backwards with a loud thud through the trees.  Dan cringed and hid behind the tree as the wolf-creature snarled, loud and violent and pounded a fist against the moist earth.  
          “I’m sorry!  I’m sorry!” Arin sat up out of the mud on his knees, “I’m _so_ sorry…”  Tears dragged in tracks down his dirty face, “We’re all sorry!”  
          The wolf snarled again, ears flattened and chops pulled back to show all of its sparkling white, sharp fangs.  Its tail stood high behind it again as Arin pleaded with it.  
“You don’t owe me anything, I know, but Trina doesn’t know anything about it.  What we did….  What happened.  Please, don’t let her die out here.” Arin looked back to the ground, “I just want my little girl back, safe.”  
          Dan watched the beast growl, its lips settling back down over its teeth.  After a few more seconds, it turned its back to Arin, somehow gracefully loping out of the clearing.  It threw its head back into a long, loud howl that carried for miles and disappeared into the darkness.  The echos sent shivers up Dan’s spine, but his eyes remained on Arin as he began to wipe the dirt off his face; he didn’t make much progress as dirt was all over his palms and under his fingernails.  The smallest “Thank you.” slid from Arin’s lips  
          “A-Arin?” Dan breathed once he was sure the beast was gone.  
          Arin jumped, looking around rapidly, “Dan?”  
          Danny stepped out from behind his tree, fingers sore and stiff from digging into the bark.  He hadn’t even realized he had been doing it, hard plant matter shoved under his nails that hadn’t been broken, “How long have you been out here?”  
          Arin’s eyes fell on Dan and he forced himself to his feet, “I should ask you the same.”  
          Choosing to keep what he just witnessed a secret, Danny cleared his voice “Just now…  I heard a wolf howl over here… I thought, I don’t know what I thought.”  
          Arin’s shoulders relaxing, he stepped over to his friend, gripping fiercely to his wrist and forearm, “We need to find Trina.”  
          “I know… I was just scared that…  I saw you take off.  I didn’t know what you were going to do.” Dan’s voice shook under his frayed nerves, tears pricking at his own eyes.  
          With a heavy breath, Arin hauled Dan into his arms tightening them in a strong hug, “I’m fine, man.  I need to be strong for Trina.  I can’t afford to do anything stupid.”  He pulled back from the hug, looking Dan in the eye before squeezing his arm one last time, “Let’s find Trina.”  
***  
          The town searched all night until dawn’s first light.  Everyone had jobs, their voices were hoarse from calling into the fog and their legs were sore from trudging through the undergrowth.  Gladly they had exhausted themselves in search of who was a daughter to all of the town.  Their lack of luck for one night did not discourage them, though chatter between all of them was peculiar.  As Dan returned his borrowed flashlight and blanket to their respective owners, he heard whisperings of wolves following the search parties.  No one sounded scared by the prospect was the oddest part…  They said it was good luck, that the forest wanted Trina to be found.  Dan didn’t know how much he believed in the spiritual, but his thoughts traveled back to the huge wolf Arin had plead with in the moonlight.  Was it some town protector that Arin had spoken of in weeks passed?  Great forest spirit or leader of the wolves?  Dan shook his head, he didn’t believe in monsters, but yet he had seen one that seemed to take pity upon a sobbing, bereft man.  
          Dan pushed his front door open.  Something he shouldn’t have been able to do, because he remembered locking it before he left the morning before.  Drawing his brows together, he knocked the door closed behind him, scanning the living room for anything amiss…  Quickly he found something, striding over to the end table by the couch, the picture of Brian and Terrence laid smashed on the wood floor.  He knelt to pick up the crushed photograph, no mere fall could have caused the extensive damage.  It had been intentionally smashed.  
          Someone had been in his house.  
          Without a second thought, Dan fled upstairs to the master bedroom.  He rifled through his things, but found nothing out of place.  All of his cash was still together in his various hiding spots and none of Brian’s things seemed moved either.  Pulling his brows together in further confusion, he trotted downstairs into the study.  The computer was still covered in dust as was everything else from the framed PhD to the shelves of books and scientific journals.  Strangely, the only things he could find missing was a bag of Cheetos, pack of beef jerky and two cans of soda.  
          Dan pulled out his phone, texting Nadie that he was going to be late, and next he texted Arin “I think someone broke into my house last night.”  He didn’t expect any kind of answer, Arin was either asleep or still with the sheriff.  
          While Dan headed back up the stairs to the bedroom, he stopped to peer into the music studio; nope, everything in there was exactly as he had left it too.  He hummed, feeling his phone vibrate down in his pocket.  Pulling out the object, he saw it was his boss “We’re all exhausted from last night.  Don’t come in.  No one else is.”  
          “Wow.” Dan raised his brows, things really did come to a dead stop in little towns when a crisis hit.  It was going to put everything behind schedule for tomorrow.  Everyone was going to have to work twice as hard to catch up, but somehow he didn’t care.  He could dedicate his day to getting a little shut eye and figuring out what he had witnessed last night.  Moreover, he needed to solve the mystery of the food thief.  
  
          Once searching the rest of his home, Danny came out with more questions than answers.  The food downstairs really __had been the only things missing.  As he went through the top shelf of the master bedroom’s closet, he found a box.  On the side of the box was scrawled in messy handwriting “Brian’s Things, Do Not Touch”.  While Dan was ordinarily all for heeding warnings left behind by mysterious people he did not know, he couldn’t resist doing the exact opposite.  He sat down on the bed with the box, pulling it open.  Blinking with a good deal of confusion at the contents inside, Dan pulled out a heavy wire pet brush, a handful--or two handfuls--of large tennis balls, a toothbrush frequently used for dog teeth and two halves of what appeared to be caribou antlers.  It was in two because it appeared that they had been bitten in half.  The last object was a long, thick leather collar that had a tag hanging from its D-ring.  The tag read “Brian -- I promise I don’t bite”  
          Dan sat the box aside as if he had been burned.  He didn’t like where his mind went, in fact, he would’ve been happier if his head could’ve just told him that Brian and Terrence were kinky fuckers.  Instead, it pointed to something more sensational than just a loving couple getting freaky together.  As much as he didn’t want to believe it…  The way Arin spoke to the monster, the story he had told of that monster and the way Keme spoke of the previous tenant of the house told him all he needed to know.  It made as much sense as it was crazy.  With too few gaps in his knowledge, however, Dan didn’t want to draw too many conclusions just yet.  
“Guess I’m not sleeping after all.” Dan decided, standing from the bed to re-gather his things and head back out.


	5. 5

          Dan found himself at the public library, searching the newspaper archives for anything in the past two years.  While the town had nothing in its own newspapers, he did, through an electronic search, find a small clipping in a Toronto newspaper with the headline of “Moosonee Man Attacked By Giant Wolf”.  There wasn’t an accompanying picture, and the clipping was short, all the information that could be gleaned from it was that the town wanted revenge on the wolf population.  They sought rights to hunt and kill the beast that had allegedly attacked one “Terrence Marsh”.  Why had a city, hundreds of miles away, printed anything on it at all when even the town it took place in didn’t bother to print a story on it?  
          Something wasn’t adding up, all the same.  Keme had said that Terrence fled town and Brian had just disappeared.  If he was going with his earlier theory that he still didn’t want to put a voice to, why would Brian have attacked Terrence anyway?  From seeing the short interaction between the monster and Arin, though the beast seemed ferocious, even after Arin had touched it, it still hadn’t attacked.  If the monster…  If the monster _was_ Brian, a violent nature didn’t make sense when everyone had nothing but good things to say about him.  
 _Well, if he’s a werewolf, they often hurt people they love._ Danny thought to himself, cringing internally at the word “werewolf”.  He couldn’t believe he had sunk so low to even call the monster that.  However, humoring himself, he pursued the line of thought as he continued searching for more information on the incident.   _The monster still recognized Arin though.  If he was Brian’s best friend, why didn’t he attack him, or even bother listening to him?_  It didn’t take Dan long to realize he was never going to get a solid answer out of sitting at a computer and boggling his brain.  
          The only way he was going to know anything, was by asking Arin.  Or…  If he was crazy enough, asking Brian himself.  
  
          Dan wandered aimlessly in the woods.  He didn’t know what he was hoping to accomplish when the forest that surrounded the town was dense enough to block all road travel to it.  Even with nearly the whole town last night combing every last inch of the few miles surrounding the town, Dan almost felt it was hopeless.  If someone got lost out here, they were just lost if they didn’t know which way was which back to town.  
          In retrospect, this idea of a one-man search party probably hadn’t been the wisest option.  He hadn’t slept in over twenty-four hours and his breakfast this morning had consisted of a protein bar and a banana.  Following the same path he had the night before, he kept an eye out for anything of use.  At somewhere around two last night, Dan had heard that someone found a ribbon discarded in a patch of ferns.  Suzy had last described Trina as wearing purple ribbons in her long hair, so it had been assumed that it was hers.  His long legs carried him in the direction of the discovery and as he reached the area, he thought _Now what?_  
Dan was just one man in a huge forest, it was impossible for him to find someone by himself.  Especially when the area had been picked clean by many in the night.  Still, his legs pushed him onward, deeper into the thick foliage that looked considerably less threatening in the daytime.  The fog was still in, and chilly dew hung in the greenery, making seeing a ditch just in front of him difficult.  
          “Whoa!” Danny stumbled, falling flat on his face into the moist earth.  Great.  With a sigh, he laid in defeat next to the roots of a tree, but from his place on the ground, he saw something.  Lifting his head, he looked down at what looked like a cross between a large handprint and the pawprint of a dog.  The monster had been here…  And the print was fresh.  Standing up, Danny grabbed a stick, poking the bits of undergrowth out of the way to find a line of prints.  The beast’s stride was massive and the prints were deep from its apparent weight.  It made following them a bit easier at least.  
          Sliding down a hill and following the prints back up the other side of a ravine, Dan travelled deeper and deeper into the forest.  Hours passed without his notice and had he taken the time to really survey his surroundings, he could’ve come to the conclusion that he had gone and gotten himself lost.  What did it gain him to follow the beasts tracks?  He had no proof that the monster had understood Arin’s request, and if it had, he also had no proof that it had agreed to help find the little girl.  Still, this was the best lead Danny had.  
          Feeling the fatigue really set in, Dan climbed yet another hill.  Reaching the plateau of the hill, Dan panted, looking about.   Something was carrying through the trees.  A bird call, perhaps?  Or…  Or a child’s voice?  His exhaustion quickly forgotten once more, Danny pressed on, “Trina?!” He yelled, moving in a way that was typical of the saying “hauling ass”.  Then, a sound made his blood run cold, a wolf’s _howl_.  Up ahead, Dan saw a clearing fast approaching; digging his heels into the dirt, he skidded to a stop, leaning against a tree.  He tried to control his breathing, but, looking into the clearing, his whole body went taut and still.  
          Laying in the clearing, a bald spot on its right temple, was the monster.  Except, it hardly seemed like a monster at all laying on its back, tongue hanging out of its mouth and a dark-haired five-year-old sitting on top of it.  To Danny’s absolute relief, Trina was fine.  In fact, she see seemed more than fine.  The little girl had her arms over her head, fingers curled like she had claws making approximate roaring noises.  
          “Raaaar!” Trina went, standing up on top of the grey, white, and brown monster wolf.  Her legs wobbled a bit as the muscles of the creature’s body slid under her feet, but she stood up tall on top of the “dead” beast.  Dan knew for certain the creature wasn’t dead as its belly still calmly rose and fell with each breath, it was merely playing with the little girl.  While the beast remained distracted, Danny scanned his eyes over the clearing.  There was an empty bag of cheetos, discarded jerky wrappers and an open can of soda.  It not seeming very likely that Trina broke into his house, Danny only had one conclusion to reach, the _monster_ had gone into his house and stolen the food.  And smashed the picture of the once happy couple...  
          Knowing what he knew now, however, the scene before him was looking less and less sinister by the second.  The monster was playing with the mud-splotched five-year-old; possibly, if Danny was right, _he_ was playing with his _god daughter_.  Silently watching, a smile built up on his face as he saw the wolf open one eye.  
          “Grrrr-aaah!” The wolf howled, making Trina scream and resume giggling as he sat up and caught her in his arms.  
          “Stoppit!  Stoppit!” Trina squealed past her laughter as the wolf licked over her cheek and neck.  She squirmed and her giggling settled as her temporary guardian’s tail wagged, thumping against the ground while he snuggled with her. “Come pway wif Mama and Papa sometime?”  Trina asked, small arms around the big wolf’s muzzle, completely unafraid of the teeth that lay inside.  
          Danny perked up at the question, resituating his feet and cracking a twig in the process.  Oops…  
          The wolf’s body tensed, ears standing up straight.  Danny cursed under his breath as he watched the wolf stand up on two, muscular legs, holding Trina to his chest and scanning the area.  It didn’t take the creature long to find Danny poorly hiding behind a tree.  Its lips pulled back, no noise audible from its mouth, just showing off its teeth.  
Danny took a step back, holding his hands up as he pushed a thick lump down his throat, “Uh hey…  Uh…  I’m-I’m not here to make trouble, I’m just…”  Hesitating, at first, Danny outstretched a finger towards Trina in the creature’s arms, “I’m just looking for Trina.”  
          The creature didn’t relax, not even for a moment, but it also didn’t show any further aggressive movements.  It looked down to Trina in its arms as if checking for something.  
          “Denny?” Trina questioned on the other side of the big arm.  She squirmed and looked over the fluff of fur obscuring her vision.  Seeing the familiar face, she waved her hand at him “Denny!”  
          “Grr?”  The wolf’s ears relaxed, looking from Trina to Dan.  
          “He’s Papa’s fwiend!” Trina explained as if she understood the noise.  “He comes over a lot!” Then, as if struck, “Do I have to go home now?” she went on to ask, looking up at the wolf and then to Danny.  “I was havin’ fun.”  
          “Uh, Trina, daddy and mama are _very_ worried about you.  You just ran off and didn’t tell anyone.” Danny couldn’t believe this was happening.  He was starting to sweat, but the creature seemed a little more pliant now.  
          “I saw a pwetty butterfwy.” the girl answered as if that explained everything that happened.  “Then Uncca Bwian found me!”  
          “Brian…?”  Danny looked up to the werewolf; children never were the best at keeping secrets.  
          “He’s _big_ puppy!” Trina threw her hands up, whacking Brian in the nose with one of her hands.  Brian whined, flinching back from the smack and snorting as he shook his head to and fro.  “Oh, I’m sowwy!”  Trina went to amend, reaching up to pet down his big muzzle, she got a short lick to her face in response; his tongue was nearly the size of her whole face!  
          Danny was unable to suppress his smile at the pair, Brian was wrapped around her tiniest finger, and boy did she know it.  However, he cleared his voice, waiting for the two to put their attentions back on him, “I’m just here to take her home, uh, Brian.”  
          Looking back down to Trina, Brian’s ears drooped further, he leaned down to put the little girl on her feet.  He gave her cheek a kiss--not a big lick, but the closest approximation to a human kiss he could likely achieve--and gave her behind a small nudge towards Danny with the back of a clawed hand.  
          “I dun wanna go home.” Trina shook her head, turning around to grab Brian’s arm, “Walk wif us!”  
          Danny remained quiet as he saw Brian’s ears droop straight towards the ground a whine coming from his muzzle as he shook his head.  
          “Why not!?” The five-year-old stomped her foot, and Danny, though he had never seen this face on a wolf before, had seen it on his mother.  It was the face of “what did you just say to me, child?’ and he scooped the girl up in his hands, walking over to Danny and holding her out to him.  
          “Whoa, okay.”  Danny took Trina from the huge, dangerous-looking hands and held her close.  As Brian turned away, dropping back to his fours to walk away, Trina began screaming.  
          “Don’t go away again!” The little girl demanded, making Brian stop and lower his head towards the ground.  Trina was crying, but they weren’t just crocodile tears, they were fat, scared tears like a child who had never been away from their mother before. “Don’t go!” she kept crying, face red.  
          “Uhm…  How about…  I can bring you out here to visit with Brian sometime?” Danny offered, knowing that there was a snowball’s chance in _hell_ that Arin was going to allow him to take his daughter into the forest to visit a giant wolf.  More, he just wanted to see this wonder of nature--magic?--that was standing before him as much as possible.  
          Brian looked over a broad shoulder back to him, Trina’s crying dwindling in strength “P-Pwomise?” She babbled, looking from Danny to Brian.  
          “I’ll talk to them, okay?  Papa and Mama both.” Danny assured Trina, flicking his eyes to Brian.  “If that’s…  Okay with Brian here.”  
          “Can I come visit?!  Huh Uncca Bwian!?” Trina was back to wiggling, trying to wipe her tears and sniffles off her face.  
          Brian let out a long sigh from his big nose before nodding.  
          “Yaaay!”  Trina squealed, putting her hands and the air and kicking her feet.  
          “Ah!  Ah, Trina be careful!” Danny twisted as the child’s foot came precariously close to kicking the family jewels.  Giving the huge wolf one last look, Danny cleared his voice, “Hey, uh…  I live in your house now, I think.”  
          Brian nodded.  
          “Um…  If you want to come by…  At all…  Sometime…”  Danny didn’t know why he was blushing.  “You know, I’d be cool with it, man--uh, wolf.”  
          Brian snorted, moving his hulking shoulders as if shrugging.  Without much more, he turned around and disappeared back into the forest.  With the beast out of sight, Danny let out a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding, “Wow.”  
          “Denny, can we go home, now?” Trina asked, looking up to Danny’s chin.  
          “Yeah, let’s get going.  Your Mommy and Daddy have been so worried about you.”  
  
          The reunion at the Hansen home was emotional to say the least.  A group of men and women were clustered on the husband and wife’s yard and Danny’s presence with a five-year-old in his arms spread grins and whoops through the collected people as fast as sound could carry.  
          “Arin!  Suzy!”  Danny heard someone call as they ran into the home through the open front door.  Danny grinned, looking down to Trina in his arms.  The little girl shook in his hands as her parents came dashing out of the house towards the two of them.  
          “Trina!” Suzy’s cheeks were red and puffy from crying, but the pure joy in her eyes shone through as Danny handed the five-year-old off.  “Oh baby,”  She cried a little more, but Dan knew these were tears of happiness and relief.  “Don’t you _ever_ scare Mama like that again.” Suzy continued to cry as Trina hugged her back.  
          “Is Mama mad?” Trina asked, looking to Arin who clutched both of them in his big arms.  
          “No, baby, we’re not mad.” Suzy answered quickly as both she and Arin shook their heads, “We’re just glad you’re safe.”  
          Danny stood off from the happy family as members of the town came by to clap him on the shoulder and ruffle his messy hair.  Inevitably, people asked where he found her and he fumbled at first, “Oh, just in a clearing a mile or so off from where we found her hair ribbon.” He supplied and it wasn’t a _lie_ , but he felt that his story of her being with a huge werewolf would’ve been too incredulous.  
          The crowd trimmed out and Suzy brought Trina inside, presumably to give her a bath and call the town sheriff.  This left Danny and Arin out on the front lawn, Arin’s arms thrown around Dan and _squeezing_ with great resolve.  
          “Buddy!  Buddy!” Danny wheezed past the strong embrace, “Can’t breathe!”  
          “I’m sorry,” Arin loosened his arms taking a step back, but he kept his hands clasped around Dan’s forearms, “Where did you find her?  What was she doing?” He asked with all the gusto of a worried father.  
          “Brian had her.” Danny felt he could at least be honest with Arin of all people.  
          “She…”  At first, Arin was overjoyed, then, slowly, the excitement left his face and he dropped Dan’s forearms,  “How do you…  Know about Brian?”  
          “Considering I’m living in his house…” Dan pointed out, “Because _you_ told Keme I would be a trustworthy tenant.”  
          “Right… I mean, more…  Did he… _Talk_ to you?” There was something in Arin’s tone that made Danny unsure.  Was it hope?  Or some unique flavor of jealousy?  Dan knew           Brian and Arin had a history of friendship, but after the newspaper article, he was beginning to wonder if it had soured somewhere down the line.  
          “No, didn’t really have lips to talk with.” Danny slipped his hands into his jeans pockets.  “I was out there that night…  When you were talking to him.”  
          “Oh…”  Arin’s shoulders slumped and he looked away, “It seemed funny to me that you hadn’t seen him…  He’s hard to miss.”  
          “Arin, I think we have to talk about this.” Dan pressed.  
          “Talk about what?” Arin took a step back towards his house.  
          “I found a newspaper clipping stating that a giant wolf attacked Brian’s boyfriend.  That the town--”  
          “Dan,” Arin cut him off, and Dan could finally tell the feeling in his voice, “I can tell you all about it some other time.” Shame was written all over Arin’s face.  “I just want to be with Trina for a bit…  I’ll tell you what I can, _when_ I can.”  
          “All right…” Dan cleared his throat, “I’ll see you later, then.”  
          “Yeah.  Get some sleep,” Arin turned to walk back into his home, “thank you again; Trina is my world.”  
          “The least I could do.” Dan assured, waiting for Arin to shut the door of his home before heading back to his own place.  He was exhausted and needed a shower as well as sleep.  
***  
          Being the creative person that he was, Dan always had vivid dreams.  In the days following his encounter with the large wolf in the forest, he dreamt frequently of him.  He dreamt of the wolf coming to his window at night and dreamt of getting himself lost in the forest with him.  On most mornings, he resolved that they had been an odd form of wish fulfillment, the need to distance himself from other people to heal.  As much as he had been enjoying himself up here in the cold North, he felt that nothing had changed.  In fact, his quick acceptance into the society of new faces had proved to exacerbate his anxieties.  It was just another group that he was going to let down.  Whether by suddenly repeating the mistakes of his past or just because he had to leave them eventually, the result was still going to be disappointment in him.  
          Arin had been less than forthcoming in information in those following days.  He was back to smiles and cheer, but Dan noticed something that hadn’t been there before:  Distance.  Initially, Dan had been unsure why he didn’t see it before.  Possibly, he decided, it was because everyone back home, when they were going through things, were nothing if not transparent in pushing people away.  Arin did it in a way entirely his own, the smiles and jokes remained, but the depth of his character was lost.  Dan knew he had done something wrong in asking for Arin to fill in the gaps of his knowledge and this was his punishment.  Stranger still, Dan couldn’t raise the enthusiasm to care.  Everyone had their own demons to fight and it was none of his business what Arin was going through.  As much as Dan cared about Arin--enough to get himself lost in the woods to find his daughter and brave the dangers of massive wildlife--he knew there was nothing he could do about whatever pain he was feeling inside.  Friends they might have been, but the intimacy of years together through good and hard times was missing.  
          With the growing distance between himself and Arin that only fissured deeper with the passing days, Dan found himself, instead, traversing the woods after work.  Summer was fast approaching and the chill exited the air in short fashion.  The days weren’t hot, rather warm as the sun touched his skin and brought a lightness to his step.  It had been a week since Dan had brought Trina back from the woods and he decided to take a risk “Hello?!” He called out in front of his path.  
          Arin left the scraps of meat and other foods by the woods, Dan figured, if Brian found himself in the area and hungry.  Sunset was near and the platter left out each day was usually empty some time shortly after dusk, “Brian?!  It’s Danny!” Not that Danny felt it made any kind of difference.  The wolf wasn’t likely to want his company.  
Wolf or no wolf, however, Danny still mosied between the trees in warm, moist air.  He had never been awed by the size of buildings in places like New York as he had always been around them, but this also skewed his his understanding of the scope of nature.  Large, old trees that had been in this forest long before people came along astounded him.  Something that nature had made was just as large as any human structure.  Danny would dare to say that they were somehow grander than any skyscraper he had ever laid eyes on.  Not only had nature built these trees, but they were _alive_.  Their canopies were just as lively as the offices inside of a skyscraper too.  Birds darted in and out of the branches, squirrels merrily scrambled up and across the trunks and Danny even spied what looked to be tree marten or some kind of weasel waiting patiently.  The forest was not all that different from a city after all.  
          Still, a Friday came that his calls into the greenery were answered, a ways from him, stood the grey monstrous wolf.  Again, Dan had to work out the exact silhouette in his head; the werewolf’s form wasn’t completely wolf, but it wasn’t completely primate either.  Brian could be equally comfortable on two legs as he was on four.  Dan felt his skin prickle and raise the hairs on the back of his neck as Brian kept low in the plants and stalked around him.  Danny had never felt more like a piece of meat in his life and there was a strong chance that he was exactly that to Brian.  Without Trina to curry the wolf’s favor, he felt like a sitting duck.  
          “H-Hi.” Dan raised his hand to give the blue-eyed wolf with a mile-long death stare a wave.  
          Brian lifted his head minutely, ears pricking from their laid back position.  
          “J-Just stopping in to say hello.” Dan assured, watching from there as Brian nodded to him and raised his belly up off the ground on his fours to pace away from him.  Danny let out a long breath, again, not realizing he had been holding it.  Brian had that effect on him.  It was exhilarating in some way to be so close to a beast that could kill him in the span it would take Danny to blink.  Then again, he was a risk-taker sometimes…  Getting a Uhaul fused to a bridge, for example, or holding an alligator’s mouth shut while so high he didn’t know what day it was.  Maybe he was becoming an adrenaline junkie.  
          Friday eventually passed through Saturday and on to Sunday.  Danny again found himself waiting for Brian in the forest.  For his persistence, he was rewarded by another glimpse of the elusive creature.  He was different this time, however.  The grey and brown fur of his throat was stained red, telling Danny in no uncertain terms that he _was_ still a predator.  One that must’ve been quite the efficient killer by the blood that discolored the fur of his fingers as well.  
          “Hi, again.” Danny smiled, lifting a hand to wave to him.  
          Brian paused on his journey to wherever it was he normally went at this time--Dan was assuming the parking lot to eat the food Arin left out for him, but it didn’t seem right as Brian had clearly already eaten.  All the same, the wolf stared at him for a few long moments before nodding to him as he had the last time and continuing on his way.  
          “See you tomorrow?!” Dan called after him, getting a shrug and muted “Rwooo.” in answer as the powerful predator disappeared among the foliage once again.  
With the wolf gone, this time, Danny shrugged off the feeling of danger once more and left the woods.  He stepped out into the darkening parking lot, finding Arin throwing out garbage into the back dumpster.  
          “Uh, hey there, man.” Arin looked puzzled as he greeted Danny.  “What were you doing in the woods?”  
          “Going for a stroll.  Think I need a drink now, though.” Dan replied amicably enough, perhaps Arin was feeling chattier tonight than he had in the last week.  
          “Mmm, well, come on in.” Arin motioned, holding the back door open.  “We have to talk anyway.”  
          “I was going to say…”  Dan stepped into the back of the restaurant and followed Arin up front to the bar.  It was a Sunday and many had work first thing in the morning.  This never stopped the usual barflies, but it wasn’t crowded in the same way that it was on a Friday or Saturday night.  
          “Pull up a chair…  I have a story for you.”  Arin, needless to say, didn’t sound excited about this story.  Dan did as asked, settling on a stool on the far side of the bar, away from the other customers.  “Now… I know there’s a lot you must have questions about…  But, um…  I would appreciate it if you could avoid asking questions until I’m done with the story, okay?”  
          “Okay…” Dan nodded, getting settled as Arin served him one of the lighter beers they had on tap.  
          Resting his elbows on the back side of the bar, Arin began, “Brian is a werewolf.” He didn’t bother lowering his voice as he began and Dan couldn’t miss the way that some people set their drinks down and straightened up in their chairs.  They were all listening, but not a one made any face to suggest they thought this subject odd…  “And everyone out here was once an ignorant fool.  Including myself.” Arin admitted with no small amount of shame coloring his tone.  “For months after Brian and Terrence moved to town, we ignored the strange sights in the surrounding forest.  Wolves had always been a part of the landscape, like bears or elk, but we knew when something just wasn’t right.  The sightings started first only around the full moon…  Then, as months turned into a year and we grew to love Brian, we saw the ghost wolf more and more often.  Sometimes people spoke of him wandering the town at night, a man dressed in black at his side.”  Arin gave Dan a few seconds to process the information, but seeing that Dan was having no trouble coming to terms with any of this, he continued, “Few called it an ill omen…  But fewer of us saw the phenomenon for what it was.  Terrence was never very good at being sneaky or hiding his face.”  Arin _chuckled_ at the memory, “We knew the wolf was Brian and the large part of us didn’t care--once the rumors got around.” He nodded, Dan seeing a sincere smile crack over Arin’s face.  “Brian was a bright, wonderful man.  He was a physics professor at the college here, he loved his students and paid the struggling ones especial care.  Brian did house calls for tutoring; he volunteered at the hospital in Moose Factory when he could, and he pitched in at the homeless shelter, and the park service and…  You know, all of us thought he was just a man too good to be true.”  
          It certainly seemed that way to Dan.  
          “He was my best friend…  Apart from Suzy, of course.  He was a musician, an artist, a comedian, he brought so much life to the town, but all of us never spoke of his wolf nature.  It didn’t seem right…”  Arin folded his fingers together over the top of the bar, “Hunting is a big tourist attraction out here.  With game like the bears and the elk and other wildlife.  It’s really one of the bigger economic pulls out here.  People fish on the river, take bears and deer and elk and all other manner of birds. It all tastes pretty good too!” Arin laughed, but Dan knew there was no joy in the sound, it was empty, “Sometimes accidents happen….”  
          Dan’s whole body stiffened.  
          “It became apparent after a hunter went missing that we couldn’t ignore Brian’s…  Very _poorly-kept_ secret anymore.”  Arin bit his lip and drummed his fingers on the table “It was the middle of winter, the hunter had been an idiot anyway to go out.  He had gotten separated from his hunting partner and while one of them made it out alive and well, the other was nowhere to be seen.  There were search parties and eventually Chogan considered giving up.  Everyone knows that your chances of survival out here are slim enough in our hard winters and they only get worse after being missing for over two days.  So…  Going behind Chogan’s back, we went to Brian.”  
          Now Dan was confused.  Initially, he had assumed that the townsfolk thought Brian had _killed_ the hunter, but now he wondered what else had been at work.  
          “He was…  Not receptive at first.  He deflected until, finally, I pulled him aside.  Before long he knew no one cared that he was a blood-hungry puffball three days out of the month.”   _That_ was a genuine smile on Arin’s face, but just as soon as it came, it went again, “So we urged him to search by himself…  And…  The lot of us felt so stupid when Brian returned with the hunter, wrapped in a thick sleeping bag, still alive in under two days.”  The smile on Arin’s face was wry, “We wondered why Brian hadn’t just done that in the first place, but, you know, generally if there’s a small chance that a whole town will go berserk and try to kill you, you don’t do something that could be considered ‘stupid’.  
          “All of us knew he was a werewolf.  None of us cared.  He saved a man’s life and it shouldn’t have even taken that much for us to know he was harmless.  Suzy and I named Brian Trina’s godfather.  He was there when she was born and I think…   _That_ was what started to drive a stake through Brian and Terrence’s relationship.”  Arin gave Dan a look as if it should’ve told him all he needed to know.  “Brian babysat her all the time, when she grew old enough to hold onto him, he carried her around on his back as if he was her noble steed or something.  She pulled his ears and yanked on his tail and did all manner of things to him and he just didn’t care.” Arin laughed, Danny detecting the slightest tears in his eyes…  Dan reached out a hand, touching Arin’s forearm and the man continued “He had always been gentle and a very loving man…  He told me his plans to adopt or at least foster children with Terrence…” Arin shook his head, “Terrence hated the idea from what I understood.”  
          “Oh…”  Dan had said he wouldn’t ask questions until Arin was finished, but he couldn’t resist “Didn’t want to be a father, huh?”  Unfortunately, it was very common in his community…  
          “No, things went sour between them in a hurry, really.  It was none of our business, so we thought nothing of it.  It was a lover’s spat, like when Suzy and I fight.  We thought they would get over it just like all loving couples do, so we ignored the warning signs.  Terrence yelling in public, Brian becoming more reclusive from the town.  I would sometimes go weeks without seeing him and Trina would cry for him.” He shook his head more and more, glaring down at the woodgrain of the bar top after a time, “I was such a fucking idiot.  I should have known what was happening, but…” Arin gritted his teeth, “When Terrence came running out of the forest one day, his clothing ripped and his face and everywhere _bleeding_ …  What were we supposed to think?  We had ignored so many of the bad signs in their relationship for so long and it just culminated in this moment…” Arin stood up straight, pounding his fist on the bar and his teeth gritted.  Patrons finally turned away from both of them, trying to hide that they had been listening.  
          “You think Brian _attacked_ Terrence over this?” Dan raised his scarred eyebrow at his friend, seeing the unbridled fury in his eyes.  
          “What would _you_ have thought?” Arin seemed to accuse, Dan unaware of where this sudden intensity had sprung from.  
          “I guess…  I would’ve given my friend the benefit of the doubt?” Dan scooted back from Arin just a little, almost afraid that his anger would be turned elsewhere.  He chastised himself for thinking such a thing, however.  Arin was one of the least violent men he had ever met in his life.  
          “If we had, maybe things would’ve gone differently…  We believed Terrence…  The first thing we did was grab for our hunting rifles.” Arin leaned back on the bar, cupping his face in his hands as his fingers threaded up into his glossy, long hair.  He fell silent for a time and Dan didn’t know what to say, until finally he asked “Did Terrence…  Did he die?”  
          Arin didn’t verbally answer, he shook his head back and forth slowly.  Dan knew he wasn’t going to get more from him.  It took Dan a long few minutes to realize that Arin was crying, “I miss him.” Arin sobbed miserably from behind the barrier of his hands.  Feeling his heart ache for him, Dan leaned in once more, gripping Arin’s wrist.  
          “Thank you for telling me.” Dan sniffled at his friend’s evident pain, then both of them remained silent.  Time might’ve healed everything, but wounds are slower to heal when something came along to rip the stitches out.


	6. 6

          For a full week after their conversation, Arin said little more than a few words at a time to Dan.  He had continued to grow all the more distant and it gave Dan the feeling that there was something more that Arin didn’t tell him.  The times he saw Brian in the forest, Dan kept a secret, not wanting to reopen the wounds of the past again.  There was a distinct disdain whenever Brian was brought up around Arin as it was now and he didn’t want to part himself all the more from Arin.  It was clear to Dan that Arin hadn’t seen any of Brian the last two years until Trina’s disappearance; yet Dan had been able to see him more often than the man that was once his best friend.  
  
          With all Dan’s new knowledge, he still continued to visit the forest.  Brian came and went from his sight occasionally and it became a near daily thing for them to just say hello to one another.  Well, more Dan doing the talking than Brian, of course.  
          Dan settled on a log, closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath.  Meditation in these weeks and months following the absence of his medicine helped far more than the pills ever did.  Dan released his breath, his frame relaxing as he listened to the sounds of the forest.  The birds were chirping, the wind was rustling the canopy above and small animals chattered in the undergrowth.  This had become a daily practice and Dan couldn’t say he was sorry for it.  However, just as usual, as he breathed in and out and meditated on his life and his emotional state, his mind wandered back to his parents and his sister.  Were they worried about their son that had just gone missing without a trace?  No suicide note or any kind left behind to at least give them closure that he was dead?  Just gone…  Somehow, Danny knew that what he had done was more wrong than anything else that he had done in the past.  On his exhale, he thought of sending a letter, something for them to know he wasn’t dead.  He would do that.  While he didn’t want anyone to know where his disgraceful self had run off too, he also didn’t want them to worry so much.  Maybe his original intention had been to worry them, but he knew it was selfish and cruel to cause such pain when _he_ had been the one to originally wrong everyone.  Their reactions to him had been justified…  On his inhale, he noticed the sounds of life in the forest had stopped around him.  All was silent save for the voice of the wind in the trees.  
          Discomfited by the sudden silence, Danny cracked an eye open, “Uwah!”  He flailed his arms out as he fell backwards from his log to the ferns below.  
          The huge, greying muzzle with a big wet nose that had been less than two inches from his face peered over the log down at him.  Something akin to a snort of humor issued from the big wolf and Danny stared up at the canopy of the forest as his face turned red, “What the fuck, man!?” Danny sat up, his gangly legs still draped over the moss-covered log.  
          Brian, his mouth dipping open slightly to let out a wolfish “laugh” turned his back to Danny, his tail swishing behind him.  
          “Hey, wait,” Danny scrambled frantically to right himself.  Once up off the ground, he brushed the dirt and leaves from his jeans and trotted after him, “Wait, man…”  
Brian did as requested, the moist dirt beneath his massive paws accumulating deep furrows from his weight.  As he did not speak, he could not really _say_ “what do you want,” but Danny knew the look on his face.  He was a dog-lover after all and the many expressions of playful pooches had been forever imprinted into his memory.  Brian’s ears were pricked, his tail held neutral.  
          “I uhm…  I’m just…”  What _had_ Danny been wanting to say?  He realized all too abruptly that he had had no idea what he wanted in getting so lost in the embrace of the forest.  Maybe he had just wanted to be away from Arin who was driving a subtle wedge between the two of them.  Or, maybe, Danny just wanted to meet the man whose house he lived in and whose things he had picked through.  He had many a hypothesis about Brian’s person and character and he wanted to know, “Hi… My name is Danny.”  
          Brian tipped his head to the side as if saying “yeah, you’ve said that before.” While he remained where he stood, the wolf made no motion to turn more towards him.  
          “I know you know that and…  I don’t know why I wanted to see you, to be honest.” It was better than lying and making something up.  
          Brian blinked, slowly, deliberately, and turned away, resuming his gait through the woods that had been so quiet Dan hadn’t even noticed before.  
          “Wait!” Danny strode after him, the long legs of the wolf making him have to pick up the pace to keep up, “Uh, I guess I’m just looking for company.  Since I brought Trina back, Arin has been…  Not himself.”  
          Brian snorted, it was a bitter noise as he crushed a twig beneath his fingered paws.  
          “Okay, so there’s some bad blood between you two, I’m guessing?” Danny assumed, thinking back to what all Arin had told them; he was walking ever faster as Brian was continuing to pick up the pace.  “I’d never think so, the way everyone talks about you.”  
          Brian stopped dead, swinging his head around as one of his fists pounded into the dirt.  His hackles raised and he growled at Danny, forcing the man to dig his heels into the wet dirt.  
          Dan’s hands flung up to his chest as he remembered the news article he had read, even if it contradicted everything he had seen out of the beast before him, “I-I don’t mean anything… B-B-By it…  I…  I just want to…” What _did_ he want?  “I want to understand… What happened.”  
          Brian’s growl subsided, but the way his ears remained stark erect and his tail followed suit, Dan knew he would need more explanation than that.  Though everything in Danny’s body said to flee from the horse-sized wolf, he quashed his fears to continue speaking.  
          “I’m new to this place… If you didn’t already know that.” Dan didn’t remember what the wolf knew and what he didn’t, so he figured finding a starting place was key.  “I’ve become friends with many of the townspeople and…  Arin has been extremely helpful in settling me in.”  
          Brian’s blue eyes narrowed at him, but he didn’t resume growling; his strong limbs remained, nonetheless, planted in place, muscles braced.  
          “He suggested that Keme rent your house to me, and…  I guess I’ve just wanted to meet you.  At least.” Dan swallowed, continuing, “I want to understand what happened back then… I’ve gotten Arin’s side of the story…”  
          Brian’s shoulders visibly slumped and he turned away, weaving his trail between the trees.  
          Assuming Brian wasn’t trying to run away, Dan followed behind him until they both came to the edge of the forest.  Huddling close to Brian in the dim light of twilight, the two observed Arin sitting by the tray of food.  Arin was waiting, evidently, for Brian to come take his nightly offering.  
          “He misses you, man.” Dan whispered towards the sail of Brian’s ear.  
          The wolf swung his head around again to look at Dan, he snorted once more and turned his back on Arin and his offering slinking back into the protection of the forest.  Dan sighed and followed after him, still having no reason to leave him.  Brian had elected to get close to him in the first place after all.  
          “Wait, wouldn't it be worth it to just…  Talk to him?” Dan could tell the wolf’s patience for him was wearing thin as his gait picked up steam.  “You can't hide out here forever.”  
          Brian growled back at him, stopping Dan in his tracks. They had gone far enough away from the town that the only light left was the moonlight filtering in between the leaves.  Brian's eyes glowed with the cold moonlight, chilling Dan to his bones.  
          Dan swallowed, whole body tensing, “I'm not afraid of you.” he lied.  
          Brian snorted in much the same way he had at Arin, giving him the cold shoulder and bounding off into the dark woods.  
          Dan really needed to work on his poker face.  
  
          Even after the impasse between Brian and Danny that night a week ago, Dan made it a point to visit.  If Brian really was so keen on keeping his distance, Dan was confident that Brian was more than capable of not letting himself be seen.  As Brian wasn’t talking and Dan didn’t wish to interview Arin further on such a delicate topic, he asked around.  For the most part, his efforts confirmed his hypothesis the more he spoke with the townsfolk.  
          Lacey, a server at the Sky Ranch restaurant, told Dan she had seen the wolf in years past, but not for the last two.  Her husband, a hunger, used to hunt _with_ the wolf as a guide.  It hadn’t been that way for a long time now, however; other hunters in town confirmed much the same.  Even the local wolves that were of more normal size had been relatively absent from sight until the night of Trina’s disappearance.  If Brian _didn’t_ want to be found, he was doing a poor job with Danny.  
          One evening, Dan forwent his usual trek into the forest to pay Suzy and Trina a much-needed visit.  Arin was still closing at the Brewhouse, so Dan didn’t have to sit through the awkwardness that had arisen between them that night.  
          “What are you making?” Dan asked Suzy as Trina futzed around in his lap.  In his hands, he held a plate, having difficulty eating too much at one time as the five-year-old was always trying to snag his food, “This venison is delicious, by the way.”  
          “Thank you, be careful though; Arin likes to hunt with a shotgun, there might be some buckshot left in there somewhere.” Suzy warned with a smile before continuing “I’m making Jewelry.”  She explained, looking up from the chunk of ivory-white material in her hands.  Carefully, she had shaped it into a flat, spiral-like shape, “We sell my art and jewelry for extra money at fairs in Toronto.”  
          Dan whistled appreciatively, “A far ways to go…”  
          Suzy shrugged, “I just build up a stock over several months.  Whatever I don’t sell at the fairs, there are galleries and curio shops willing to buy things.”  Dan was sure her art and other works fit right in with some of the trendier crowds in Toronto. “It’s worth it.”  
          “What’s it made out of?” Dan motioned to the piece in her hand.  Trina meanwhile, squealed with joy as Dan tickled her in his lap.  Trina wasn’t the only one that had taken a liking to him being in the house; Mochi and Mimi, the two short-stack cats bugged Dan for attention at his side.  Dan was…  Less than sure about getting too close to the cats, dogs always gave fair warning before biting the shit out of your hands.  
          “I think this one is elk bone.” Suzy nodded to herself and giggled as Dan’s face went to shock, “We need to use every part of the animal.  Nothing goes to waste here.”  
          “That’s… Commendable.  If not a little morbid.” Danny commented with a chuckle.  
          “Oh, Danny, every year I strive to become just a bit scarier.” She laughed.  
          “In the ‘I don’t know if I should be starstruck or terrified’ kind of way?” His giggling continued.  
          “Exactly.”  
          Conversation between them lulled for a time, Trina finally settling in to doze in Danny’s lap.  Suzy, noticing the child’s interest in sleep rather than anything else, spoke quietly “Arin tells me you know about Brian.”  
          Like a switch being flipped, Trina was back up, “Bwian!?” She shrilly squealed, standing up and just nearly stomping on Dan’s very sensitive area. “Whewe?!”  
          “No, no, baby, Uncle Brian isn’t here.” Suzy had to tell the girl with considerable melancholy.  
          “Oh…  When will he visit?” Trina pressed with all the impetuousness a five-year-old was capable of.  
          “He won’t.” Suzy sighed, setting down her work.  
          “Why not?” Trina stomped her foot again.  
          “Because Brian is still mad at Daddy.”  
          Dan remained silent as Suzy and her daughter spoke.  While this was more information he could use, he knew it wasn’t his place to intervene.  
          “Why can’t Papa just say sowwy?” Trina puzzled.  
          Dan’s frown deepened as he watched Suzy’s face morph from dismay to pain, “Because…  Sometimes sorry isn’t enough, baby.”  
          “But isn’t Papa sowwy?”  Trina looked from Suzy to Dan, as if either of them could corroborate her assumption.  
          “Yes…  He’s very sorry.” Suzy nodded.  
          “So, why won’t Unnca Bwian visit?”  
          Suzy let out another long breath, contemplative, “Because sometimes, grownups make bad decisions.  It can take a long time for those decisions to to be forgiven.  Sometimes they never will be forgiven and no one is ever…”  She paused, trying to find a simple way to summarize her thoughts “No one ever _has_ to forgive someone that wronged them.”  
          “Oh…”  Trina pouted down at the floor.  Amazingly, she couldn’t come up with any more questions on that particular subject, so she moved on.  “Can Mama make me a new bwacelet?”  
          Suzy smiled, but her melancholy was as evident to Dan as ever “Of course I can, baby.”  Looking over the table, Suzy selected a piece of what must’ve been a leg bone by the size of it.  It already had a hole going through the middle, so it only made Suzy’s job easier to get started.  
          “Ehm…”  Dan figured it was safe to enter back into conversation now that things had moved on.  Still, there was a tensity to the air, “You make jewelry from animal bones?”  
          “Oh, yes.  Whatever I can find.” Suzy appreciated the distraction from the prior topic “With all the big predators in the forest, it can be hard to find unbroken bones, but it’s fine for carving.”  She continued, “If you ever find any during your walks, I’ll pay you to bring them back.”  
          “Oh, you don’t have to.” Danny giggled, “What do you do with whole bones?”  
          “I make decorations with them.”  Suzy grinned, setting down the bone that was to be Trina’s new bracelet, “I have some in my studio to be sold if you want to look.”  
          “Sure!” Dan grinned back and stood, picking Trina up as he went.  As Suzy lead him to her studio, he looked at the paintings and drawings on the wall.  Dan knew Arin enjoyed creating as much as he enjoyed his job at the Brewhouse, but almost all the displayed works were by Suzy’s hand.  Except for a framed finger paint drawing just signed with a big “T” in the corner.  
          Stepping into Suzy’s studio, Dan peered around at all the tools of her trade.  On one desk was shoved all manner of drawing utensils and paper and paints; on another desk, Dan saw heavier, electric tools, these for bone carving and polishing.  Her tools were not the focus of Dan’s curiosity, however, against one wall were completed works.  Some were antler candle-holders or bone napkin rings, necklaces, rings, pendants, earrings, hair combs and holders for sewing tools!  The whole, unbroken bones were affixed to plaques of burned wood, geometric or flowing designs burned or etched into them.  Oddly enough, Dan saw none with what he had expected to be traditional First Nation art.  
          Suzy took Trina from his arms as he looked around, “I need to get this one ready for bed.” She informed before leaving with the child who had all but fallen asleep against Dan’s shoulder.  When Suzy returned, he looked up from the body of work he had before him.  
          “Ever think of doing like… Some kind of ceremonial Cree etchings on these?” Dan picked up one piece that looked big enough to be a cow femur.  
          “I did, yeah, but after talking to some of the tribe elders, I decided I wasn’t comfortable with it.” Suzy shrugged, “Not for things I sell at fairs anyway.  I get requests from people around town a lot for specific things though.  So, I’m happy to do them in that case.”  
          Dan hummed, a bit puzzled, but he chose to not pursue her with questions of why.  Eventually, Dan’s eyes touched upon a very rare find, “Wow… Is this a wolf skull?”  
          “Oh…”  Suzy stepped over the splendid white, intact skull on her workbench.  “Yes, it is.”  She swiped a finger over the beginnings of a burn etch on the skull’s cap, “Arin found it behind the restaurant.”  
          “Really?”  Danny moved to examine the specimen more, but didn’t dare touch it’s brilliant surface.  
          “I just assumed it was a gift from Brian.” Suzy murmured, “One of his wolves must’ve gotten sick, or injured.”  
          “Is he… Like…  The leader of all the wolves in the forest?”  Dan took a seat at the bench, flicking his eyes out the window to the indiscernible treeline beyond the darkness.  
          “I don’t think they hold any real allegiance to him, but it’s not like they could fight Brian anyway.” Suzy spoke in hushed tones, Danny assumed to keep Trina from hearing.  “He must be lonely out there…  So maybe he stays with the wolves for company more than anything.”  
          “I guess so.”  Danny tried to not let a frown get to him, but one crept up all the same, “I just want to know all of what happened.”  
          Suzy shook her head, “I don’t really think you do.  It was a dark time…  I think we all deserve to be shunned by him.”  
          “Suz…  Don’t tell Arin, but… I’ve been seeing Brian almost everyday after work.”  
          “He knows…  No one had to tell him.” She gave Danny a significant look, “I don’t know what your motives are, but…  I’m glad Brian’s letting someone near him.”  
          “I don’t even know what my motives are.” Dan admitted with a sheepish giggle.  “I guess…  Maybe I feel like we share something in common.”  
          Suzy gave him a knowing look before commenting “We all hide from our problems in different ways.  Some of us do it better than others.”  
          As midnight came around, the two bid their farewells, Suzy heading off to bed and Dan going home for the night.  Out on the front porch step of the couple’s house, Dan saw two white glints in the treeline.  Unlike the last time he saw them, he felt no unease.  Raising his hand, he gave them a wave before they disappeared back into nothing.  
***  
          The forest was alive the first day of summer.  Birds sang in the trees, insects buzzed and went about their short lives, and Dan saw plenty of seals playing in the river while working.  It came as no surprise to him when he returned to his usual waiting place and found Brian already there.  A furry object hung from his bloody muzzle and Dan supposed it must’ve been dinnertime.  
          “Hey…” He greeted, sitting down on his long, not expecting a response.  
          “Mmn,” Brian answered him, pausing for a second to lick his chops and spit out a bit of fur before going back to tearing into his bloody meal.  
          “I’m sorry for how pushy I was…”  Dan started, not knowing if Brian was listening to him or not.  “You hardly know me.”  
          Brian kept his back to Danny, still focused on his meal.  
          “I’m trying to understand,” he cleared his throat as the wolf ate.  “Nobody has a single bad thing to say about you.  Not Arin, not Suzy, not Keme… Not even people that say they barely knew you.” Seconds after apologizing, Dan was already at it again, “I kind of feel the same about myself sometimes though.”  
          “Mmng?”  Brian lifted his head, peering over his shoulder back to him.  
          “Ever feel like…  Everyone else sees something in you that you don’t in yourself?”  
          Brian didn’t dignify the more or less rhetorical question with a response and resumed picking his meat clean from the bone.  
          “Whether it’s good or bad?”  
          Dan listened to the animals in the forest for a while, the natural soundtrack of the environment filling the space between them. “It…  Must be lonely out here.” Dan nudged, though gently, his voice small in the large woods.  
          “Mn,” Brian grunted, tossing the bones of his meal aside and beginning to clean himself with his tongue.  
          “I’d like to get to know you…” Dan informed with a bare smile, “We all have our reasons for running, I have my own too.”  
          Brian lifted his head to peer with thin-veiled suspicion at Danny.  Dan might have been a dog-lover and a people-lover, but it still made Brian’s expression unreadable.  He didn’t know if he was making headway or if he was only serving to hurt his cause.  
          “You’re out here, hiding and being bitter about _something_ , and I just want to know what happened.” Dan’s nerves were settled at least, but he frowned when Brian stood and began to walk away.  Feeling like tempting fate, or perhaps playing chicken with his demise, he followed him, “I don’t mean to sound like a broken record.”  
          Brian’s trot turned into a string of frustrated stomps as he sped up further.  
          “Brian, _please_.” Danny called, having to break into a jog to keep up.  “I know fucking--Whoa!”  He was cut off as Brian suddenly rounded on him, growling and snarling.  Again, Danny’s blood ran cold and everything in the fiber of his being was telling him to run.  This was a dangerous, blood-spattered predator that was going to eat him and he was foolish in testing the beast’s temper. “H-Hey, man…  I-I-I know you…  Don’t know me…  And-and…  Maybe I’m being stupid and t-t-talking to a lost-cause…”  Brian growled louder and snapped his deadly jaws at Danny, but the tall man still stood his ground “But I’m not scared of y-you.”  
          Seeming to take umbrage to the repeated assertion, Brian hunched his formidable shoulders and lifted himself onto his back legs, letting out a fierce snarl at him as his paws uncurled into his long claws.  He was the picture of every movie monster Dan had ever seen and he was a _wuss_ when it came to horror.  His heart hammered and his muscles twitched, screaming for him to run, and run faster than he ever had.  
          “Y-You didn’t hurt Trina. An-And…  Y-You listened to Arin’s pleas to-to find her.  M-M-Maybe it’s just because she’s a child, or maybe because she’s ignorant to whatever happened between you.”  Why was he even still _here_?!  “I don’t know the whole story, but I don’t believe you attacked Terrence.”  
          Brian’s pointed ears drooped minutely.  
          “I don’t think,” Danny let out a breath, taking in another one in his attempts to steady his nerves “I don’t think you could.”  He shook, reaching out a hand towards him, making to slowly lay it on the werewolf’s wrist,  “You loved him…”  
          Brian flinched back from Danny’s hand as if he had been burned.  He dropped back to his fours, pounding both of his fists and gnashing his teeth with an ugly sound.  
          “I want to know _your_ side of the story.” Dan said with confidence in his voice that the rest of him did not possess.  “If you ever want to tell me…”  
          Brian fell quiet, his violent overtures amounting to nothing in front of Dan’s rickety resolve.  His chops settled back down over his teeth and his eyes had a new, curious light in them.  
          Clearing his voice, Dan looked to the ground, playing with a broken stick with the toe of his shoe, “I…  Did something wrong.  I hurt people I loved…  I betrayed them, most especially my parents.”  Was this what he had wanted?  Someone new and vaguely unbiased to listen?  
          Brian continued to look at him, expression unchanged, but…  To Dan’s bemusement, Brian sat his backside down on the ground and lowered his chest with it.  Putting down his elbows into the dirt, The wolf rested his chin into the palm of one of his hands.  He raised an eyebrow--or it would’ve been an eyebrow if his whole face wasn’t covered in fur--as if saying “Go on”.  
          Danny too settled down with Brian, inching a little closer to the relative stranger, “I’m out here to try to start again, I don’t know if my situation is very similar to yours…  Because I don’t believe you did anything wrong--I don’t know the whole story, you see, and I want to know all of that before I think anything.”  
          The wolf nodded and motioned with a paw-hand, in a “keep going” motion.  
          “Heh…  Are you a therapist, Dr. Wecht?”  
          The wolf let out a few snorts of humor and shook his head.  
          “But you still have a PhD, so that makes you a Doctor.” Danny pointed out, a small smile coming to his sad face.  “You’re more qualified to hear my stupid problems than anyone else.”  
          Brian rolled his eyes and motioned for Dan to continue again.  
          “Okay…  Sorry for the distraction.” Danny chuckled, his nerves never more evident.  “So… Okay…  My life was kind of falling apart…  On top of losing my job and my mental health issues…”  While Dan wondered why Brian was willing to listen at all, he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, “I dropped out of college, and I had to tell my parents…”  
  
 _“Eh…  What?” Avi questioned, looking to Debbie as if there was something critical in Dan’s English that he had missed.  Dan had been away in Boston this time and he had…  Dropped out?_ _  
_ _“Yeah, um…”  Dan swallowed, wringing his hands together, “I um…  I don’t really have anything else to say.”  He kept his eyes pointed on the floor.  “Things fell through with Taylor… She’s uh, been cheating on me for a few months, I guess.”_ _  
_ _Debbie and Avi looked to one another, muttering between one another for a few moments before Debbie stood and came to Danny to wrap her arms around him, “We’re very sorry to hear that, sweetie.  No one should ever be betrayed like that by anyone.”_ _  
_ _“Thank you Debbie.” Dan rested his head on her head in a strong hug._ _  
_ _“Eh, Dan…” Avi stood, obviously battling in his head the proper way to respond to all of this, “Why, uh, did you drop out?” He raised a hand to Dan’s back carefully stroking down it._ _  
_ _“I just…” Dan slumped more onto his mother, “I don’t think it was for me.  Like…  There are lots of people that it’s great for, but....  Just not me.” He watched as his father pulled his eyebrows down into an irate furrow.  Avi was silent, however…  Which was so much worse than hot, white anger.  “I want to pursue my music dreams…”  He stood there with his mom, wringing his hands as Avi shook his head and left. “I…”  There was nothing he could say._ _  
_ _“It’s okay, sweetheart.  He’ll come around.” Debbie tried to assure him, “If you want to go after your music dreams…  I’ll support you in it.”  She nodded up to him, but suddenly a question popped into her mind “How long have you been out?”_ _  
_ _“Uh…  Out-out, or…?”_ _  
_ _“No, out of school.” Debbie corrected, looking up at her son._ _  
_ _“I never really went in Spring semester…”_ _  
_ _“So…” Debbie stepped back from him, folding her arms, “Your tuition was 50,000 dollars.” She tweaked her eyebrow at him._ _  
_ _“Oh…” Danny went pale and sheepishly smiled to his mom, “I… Uh…..”_ _  
_ _Debbie narrowed her eyes a little, “You haven’t had a job this whole time and are just now coming home.” She added everything up very quickly, “Leigh Daniel Avidan!”_ _  
_ _  
_“Yeah….”  Dan saw the expression on Brian’s face, “Soooo…  Here I am.  I at least left them a check for 20,000 before I came out here…  Everything else I just crammed into my backpack.”  
          Brian sat up from the ground, holding his muzzle in his hands, shaking his head.  
          “I know I’m an asshole…  I didn’t know what to do…  I didn’t have all the money to pay them back, my dad was disappointed in me already, no job, no direction…  My girlfriend had been cheating on me with my best friend, actually, so I didn’t really have the same friend group to support me.”  Had he, Dan was pretty convinced that this wouldn’t have been his first choice of escape.  
          Brian lifted his head from his hands, looking at him with something akin to sympathy.  Dan didn’t know if he actually was, or if it was something invented to make him feel better.  Clearing his voice, he continued “I felt like Marketing was just a soul-sucking area of study.  The art of duping a public into buying something they didn’t need to impress people they didn’t like…” He shrugged, “I always wanted to entertain people and make them happier.  I felt like…  I was never going to do that with my major.  I mean, really, the purpose of advertising and so on is to make someone feel less without your product and all.”  
          Brian nodded, sitting up and crossing his legs over each other.  It was odd to see a wolf sitting cross-legged, very human chest and stomach muscles on display beneath a layer of fur.  Dan didn’t mean to stare, honestly, but as his eyes drifted down to the sheath between Brian’s legs, he realized entirely too late that he had been checking him out.  Flushing with ripe embarrassment, Danny tore his eyes away from Brian’s half-wolf body, kicking himself in his head as his eyes bored holes in the ground.  
          “I didn’t attack Terrence.”  A voice Dan had never heard before came from in front of him.  Jumping with surprise, Danny looked up to where the wolf had been to a face he had only seen in pictures.  His blue eyes held the same intensity to stare straight through him and Danny felt a distinct unease within him at the stern expression on Brian’s face.  The pictures Dan had seen, Brian was light and smiling, this man was not the same, too much had happened since those days.  Also, it stood to mention, that Brian in his home pictures was most often clean-shaven or allowed just a little stubble.  From his past two years being a very furry animal without a razor, his cheeks down to his neck were covered in a full, greying beard.  
          “I-I know you didn’t.” Danny evened out his breathing, refusing to look between Brian’s legs again and gluing his eyes to the man’s face.  
          “I did love him.” Brian reclined back onto one elbow, looking around the forest that was growing black as pitch, “I don’t think you should stay out here much longer, Danny.”  
          It made Dan’s skin prickle to hear the werewolf say his name.  He hadn’t expected Brian’s voice to have such a profound effect on his person.  With Brian naked before him, it reminded Danny that he hadn’t been with a man in a very long time now--he hadn’t been with _anyone_ in months.  Unfortunately, Dan hadn’t considered until just that moment whether or not Brian was his type and _oh boy was he ever_.  
          “Danny,” Brian spoke again, finally catching the younger man’s attention. Did Brian know Dan found him attractive?  He didn’t want things to suddenly be awkward between them just as they had finally come to speaking terms. “Did you hear me?”  
          “Oh, yeah, um…”  Dan did the thing he had told himself to not do, he looked between Brian’s legs then right back up to is face, “I’m sorry…”  
          Brian raised an eyebrow sitting back up all the way and closing his legs, “Didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”  
          “N-No, it’s not that…” Dan giggled, looking away from him, “You’re just, uh, well, kind of hot.” There, he said it.  
          Brian rolled his eyes, “Is _that_ the reason why you wanted to talk to me, then?”  His voice was flat, Danny unable to discern if there was any kind of approval or disapproval in his voice.  
          “No, I honestly…  Want to know what all happened out here.” Danny licked his lips, looking to his hands, then back to Brian.  
          “I think we can continue this elsewhere, if you’d like.” The corner of Brian’s mouth ticked upwards into a crooked smirk that made Danny’s heart thud in his chest.  
          “Well, I wouldn’t want to intrude upon your evening…”  Danny replied honestly.  
          “Eh, you already have.” Brian stood, stepping over to Dan to offer a hand.  His smirk grew all the wider into a wicked smile as Danny flushed redder and took the hand to scramble to his feet. “Besides, it’s not like the local wolves won’t get along fine without me.”  
          “We don’t have to leave the forest if you don’t want to…” Danny moved to comfort Brian; he knew the man hadn’t left the forest in at least two years now.  Surely prying him from the relative safety of the forest would be a little harder.  
          “I never said we were going to.” Brian swiftly moved to correct Danny’s assumptions.  “But we can move at least.  I never stay in one place too long.  It’s dangerous.” Brian trekked, naked, through the undergrowth, just as silent in his human form as he had been in his other.  
          “What’s dangerous to _you_?” Danny chased after him, taking a second to respect the _fine_ ass in front of him.  Living in the woods as an animal for years made the body hard and _strong_.  
          “Nothing, really.  Except angry locals with guns.” Brian huffed.  
          “Oh…”  Danny came to stand at Brian’s shoulder, finding the size difference offsetting.  As a wolf, Brian was nearly a full two feet taller than him when he stood up, more than two if he counted his ears; where they stood now, Brian was shorter than him.  “So…  They really did chase you?”  
          “They did more than chase me.” Brian didn’t look up to him, continuing to walk, surefooted as ever, through the forest.  “I heal faster than anyone out here, I was lucky they hadn’t been using silver bullets; I might actually be dead if they had.”  
          “Who…?  Everyone out here loves you, who would?”  
          “Arin is a great marksman.” Brian flatly informed, stunning Dan to silence.  They said no more to one another, just walking through the dark landscape together.  
  
          “Do you…  Do you ever miss the people you left behind?” Danny asked, it had been an hour of sitting in silence at the edge of the treeline.  The light of the moon and stars in the clear summer sky made the curves of Brian’s body discernable so the wild forest couldn’t take him from Danny’s sight; at the same time, the light of the Moosonee streetlamps came nowhere close to touching either of them.  For all intents and purposes, they were alone with each other; no animal was brave enough to approach the human habitat and no human willing to leave their home to approach the forest.  
          “Sometimes…”  Brian’s voice was solemn.  “I miss Trina the most.”  
          “I could guess.” Dan nodded, looking back to him and then back to the stars.  The moon was waning, each night sapping a little more of the light away from the land.  He doubted he could visit Brian during new moons, he wasn’t _that_ comfortable with the forest at night.  “You’re her godfather, right?”  
          “Yes.  Arin and I used to be friends.”  Brian let out a breath, pressing himself to continue, “I used to think he could do no wrong.  Sure, he had his problems, but they were out of lack of forethought more than malice.  He usually responded well to being set straight.”  
          “I would say nobody's perfect, but Arin seems to think you are.”  Dan rested his face onto his folded arms atop his knees.  
          “That’s ironic.” Brian gritted his teeth, Dan seeing the stress of his jaw in the moonlight.  
          “You write music, right?” Dan changed the subject.  
          “I used to.” Brian then moved along to say “Mostly all I do now is howl with the wolves.”  
          “I think that’s music of some kind.  Not the kind most people listen to,” Dan admitted, “but still music.”  
          “It’s more a necessity so I can tell when hunters are around.”  
          “I think that’s kind of poetic though.  Keeping everyone safe by singing.” Dan chuckled.  
          “Hm, hadn’t thought of it like that.” Brian flicked his eyes to Dan, even in his human form, his eyes still glowed in the dim light, “I’ve not had much time to consider artistic endeavors since I started living out here full time.”  
          “Well, I’m guessing…  You’ve more had to worry about catching food, keeping the other wolves safe…  Staying away from everyone.”  
          Brian didn’t verbally respond, staring at the lights in the houses far off.  
          “Is it all right if I keep visiting?” Danny enjoyed a good long silence with a friend as much as the next person, but Brian was so fascinating.  
          “Yes, it’s welcome after spending so long away from humans.”  A hum came from Brian next, “You’re one of the first people to not freak out first seeing me.  Have you met other werewolves before?”  
          “Nope.” Dan giggled, rubbing his hand over his face, “I think I’m still in partial denial.  It’ll probably hit me at three AM and I’ll try to call you screaming about it.”  
          “I don’t have a cell phone.” Brian reminded, leaning his face into his knuckles against his knee.  He perked his eyebrows at Danny as well.  
          “I’ll send it by smoke signal, then.”  
          “Make sure you just burn Terrence’s stuff.”  
          “Oh sure.  Ceremonial bonfire of _done with your shit_.” Danny giggled again.  
          “I could drink to that.” Brian nodded, looking back to the lights in the houses.  
          “Well, if you ever _wanted_ to get a drink, I’d be down.”  
          “Dan, are you asking me out?” Brian asked in a flat tone of voice, making Danny flush.  
          “Uh, no?  Yes?  Kind of?  Just as a friend’s kind of thing.”  Dan tried to smooth over, but he knew he was failing horribly.  He turned to look back at this near stranger to see his face was rather contemplative.  “We wouldn’t have to go to the Brewhouse.  Sky Ranch serves beer or whatever your poison too.”  
          “Mmm…” Brian went through a slow blink, “I’ll think about it.”  
          Usually, Dan could read through the lines, that sounded more like a ‘no’.  However, what reason did Brian have to preserve Danny’s ego?  Brian already knew the extent of Dan’s ability to deal with rejection. Maybe that was it though, Dan __wasn’t handling his life’s rejection all that well.  He ran away from everyone he had cared about…  Suzy was right, sometimes sorry couldn’t be enough.  
          “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Danny shrugged.  
          “I don’t know if I want to.  I’ve not had to think about it in a long time.” The howling of wolves drifted over the trees and the town, carried by the warm summer air.  Brian stood, offering a hand down to help Dan up, “I have to go.”  
          “What’s up?” Dan accepted the hand, this time able to keep his eyes away from Brian’s junk as he was pulled to his feet by the unnaturally strong man.  
          “There’s a pair of hunters in the forest tonight, they’re both on the move.” Brian explained, “I need to make sure these men aren’t poachers.”  
          “Oh, yeah, go do that.” Dan encouraged, taking his hand back.  He looked to the ground and them back up, but the human face he had been talking to was gone, replaced by the hulking wolf.  On reflex, Dan took a step back, clearing his voice to mask his surprise “Um, see you tomorrow?”  
          Brian shook out his coat, righting his wild fur to all lay flat again, with Danny’s question, he hummed as he had earlier.  After a few seconds, the wolf shrugged, but his tail wagged softly behind him, betraying his answer.  
          “Okay.” Dan smiled, “See you tomorrow…  Is here good?”  
          Brian nodded, but as the howls came again, he turned his attention from Dan and ran off, full steam into the woods.  Dan’s face screwing up, he wondered what the wolves had said to put such a fire under Brian.  He made a mental note to ask the next day, but he somehow doubted it was too urgent.


	7. 7

          Dan worked tirelessly down at the docks the following day.  Though the sun was hot, the breeze off the river was pleasant and cool.  His excitement only mounted the further along the day went.  He jabbered on with his co-workers on lunch, sang to himself and damn near started a singing club in the process.  Before he knew it, not only did he have everyone singing hit seventies songs, but the work day had already come to a close.  Clocking out as soon as possible, he ran almost the whole way up through town from the docks to his home.  He garnered many a confused look from passers by, but he kept on.   
          Breezing into his house at half-past five, Dan changed out of his sweaty jeans and work shirt.  He scrubbed off that day’s grime and dried river water in the shower and as he went to go get dressed, he looked to the drawers of clothes he hadn’t bothered to look through.  They were Brian’s clothes, not his after all.  Doubting that Brian wanted anything to do with clothes after having gone two years without wearing them, he still opened up a drawer and looked inside.   
          The collection of clothes surprised him, more or less.  He found a startlingly large array of button ups that would best be described as “dad shirts”.  There were faded hawaiian prints and just otherwise  _ awful  _ selections for anyone who had not yet put spawn upon this Earth.  Dan shook his head, this  _ must _ have been Terrence’s side of the dresser.  Closing the one drawer, he went to one on the opposite side, finding it empty.   
          Oh…   _ This _ must’ve been Terrence’s side.  Dan frowned, somehow feeling that maybe this was intruding too much.  He already knew Brian’s ex had fled following whatever had happened, but he had somehow expected it to be in such a hurry that he left everything behind.  Dan bit his lip, maybe Terrence had  _ planned _ to leave during the uproar he had created.   
          With slumping shoulders, Dan closed the empty drawer, going back to the side that held dad shirts on top of more dad shirts.  Eventually, Dan found a pair of knee-length khakis that seemed like they would be pretty loose on Brian’s muscular body.  He tossed them to the bed with a fabric belt already in their loops and got dressed himself.   
  
          With the summer bringing longer days, sunset didn’t come until nearly quarter of eight.  By then, Dan had already eaten his dinner, cleaned the kitchen and dropped his rent off.  He hadn’t fully realized just how boring this town could be until he ran out of stuff to do.  For all his criticisms though, the town had genuinely good people.  He thought of Arin and whether or not he was ready to start talking to him again and he also thought of Brian…  It might not have been his job to rekindle and old friendship, or try to stitch wounds back together that even time hadn’t healed, but he wanted to try.  With time, hopefully.   
          Dan sat down in the same spot he had been sitting the night before, Brian’s shorts folded up in his lap.  He waited patiently, but did not see Brian until the last rays of fiery sunset had given way to the cool tones of twilight.  At first, he smiled, but as Brian shifted from his wolf form into his human one, his stomach jerked.  There was something deeply offsetting about seeing a creature’s shape distort and twist from one into another.  Dan didn’t even like graphic horror movies like  _ American Werewolf in London _ that showed the whole transformation process in all of its bone-cracking glory.  Somehow, the shift being silent and almost seamless made the experience worse.   
          “Oh, I should’ve mentioned, you might throw up if you watch me.” Brian only warned after the fact as he stood next to Danny, doubled over on the ground.  “My apologies.”   
          “That’s just a thing?” Danny wiped drool from his mouth, thankfully, none of his dinner had come up after all.   
          “Yeah, humans aren’t meant to see things that don’t make scientific sense.” Brian plopped down to the soft ground, “Being the man of science that I am, even I hate it.”   
          “I’m sure…  Your body breaks all kinds of physics rules.” Danny commented, still trying to soothe his aching stomach.   
          “Mostly just the laws of conservation of mass.” Brian explained, “I weigh more in that form and am taller, yet I weigh less in this one and am shorter.  If my mass remained the same, but only my height changed, I wouldn’t be so angry about it.  Alas.”   
          Dan chuckled, “Wait, you’re mad you don’t make scientific sense?”   
          “Ugh,  **_yes_ ** .” Brian huffed, “Try having your whole worldview and understanding irrevocably altered because some big dog came up and made you his chewtoy.”   
          Danny frowned as Brian spoke, he sounded tense, worse than tense, he sounded  _ angry _ , “Are you all right tonight?”   
          Brian closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.  When he let the breath out he opened them again, looking out at the town, “Yes…  I’m fine.  I’m sorry.”   
          “No big deal…”  Danny looked to the pants in his lap, then lifted them to hand to Brian, “In case…  I don’t know…  You ever decide to leave the woods.”   
          Brian looked at the pants being offered his way with an unreadable expression.   Before too much time had passed, he accepted them, “Thank you.” He didn’t move to put them on, rather laid them in his lap over his groin.  “I appreciate it.”   
          “No problem.”  Dan gave him a smile in the fading light.  “So… I take it you were bitten by a werewolf?”   
          “Oh, yeah.” Brian nodded.   
          “Is it really a curse?”   
          “I think it’s closer to a virus.  Instead of killing you though, it makes you stronger and able to defy science.”  Brian reclined back, not having to worry about putting his junk on display this time.  “Some of us say it’s a bit of both, which…  I can’t disagree with.”   
          “What do you mean?” Dan, as he had the prior night, curled in on himself, bringing his knees up to his chest and resting his folded arms across them.   
          “Well…  A bite is enough to infect someone, but kissing won’t.”  Brian began,  “Even if someone has an open wound.  The same for licking.  How infectious someone is changes from day to day depending on the time of the month.  Now all of this seems to indicate a virus of some kind--even if certain kinds of infection that usually would work don’t--but the main thing that sticks out for me is that even being clawed can transfer it.”   
          “What?  It can?” Dan blinked, resisting the urge to lean away “Do you… Know from experience?”   
          “No, I’ve never personally infected anyone to my knowledge…  I’ve seen it though.” Brian nodded, laying his head back into the leaves and dirt.  A warm wind blew, rustling the trees and ferns of the undergrowth.  “A curse is the only thing that explains transformation based upon the moon though.”   
          “Right, since the moon has no light of its own…” Danny had at least heard that argument before somewhere.   
          “Yeah.” Brian’s silver-glowing eyes drifted back open, staring blankly up at the trees.   
          “How old were you when it happened?”   
          “Mn…  I was seventeen.  I went for a hike in the Pine Barrens with my friends.”   
          “Whoa, whoa,” Dan stopped him short, earning a curious look, “You’re from New Jersey?”   
          “Yep.” Brian nodded from his place in the dirt.   
          “Me too.” Dan laughed, “What the fuck were you doing in the Pine Barrens?”   
          “I said for a hike.” Brian reminded him, but there was a lighter note to his voice, “We were stupid teenagers.” He shrugged, “What more can I say?”   
          “I dunno, whether or not you were a skater boy?”   
          Brian closed his eyes, a tiny snort issuing from his nose, “I’m  _ about _ to tell you ‘see you later boy’.”   
          “I’m not good enough for you?”   
          “Eh, you got a pretty face.” Brian’s usually stern lips were beginning to crack into a sardonic smirk.   
          “But is my head too up in space?”   
          Brian stared up at him, quiet at first, but eventually he answered “Nah.”   
          “I think my favorite part of this is you ending up a rocker on MTV.” Dan laughed, leaning to one side.  “I’ve read some of the music books you left up in your studio.”   
          “Psh, as  _ if _ .  I’d rather be on comedy central.”  Brian sat up, “Not like MTV still does music anyway.”   
          “I think you’d do well.  Your shit’s hilarious.”   
          “Glad someone finds it interesting…”  The tone of Brian’s voice drifted back down where it had been upon arrival, “There have been a lot of people in my life that wouldn’t agree with you.”   
          “Fuck em, yeah?  They don’t know genius when it hits them.”   
          “Trust me, I did a lot of ‘hitting that’.”   
          “Why were you with him if he was a dick?” Dan begged the question.   
          “He stayed with me even after he found out.” Brian flatly answered.   
          “O h…  I guess that’s…”   
          “He told me he wasn’t scared of me.”  Brian’s eyes turned to the ground, “He even wanted to spend more time with me.  It wasn’t just… Something he had to live with.  He made me feel like there was nothing wrong with me.”   
          Dan didn’t know what to say, he remained quiet, just listening.   
          “Arin was that way too… And Suzy and Keme.”   
          “I know it’s not the same…” Dan took a breath, “But, I have OCD, so I know what you mean, at least a little.”   
          Brian grunted in affirmation, “The way mental illness is treated,” he shook his head, “you might as well be a werewolf.  If someone doesn’t think you’re dangerous, you’re the butt of a million tasteless jokes.”   
          “Yeah…”   
          “What do you like to do for fun?” Brian asked, seeming out of the blue to Danny.   
          “Oh, I write and play music.”  Dan shrugged shortly after, “Well, not recently.  I left all my shit at my parents’ when I ran…”   
          “What do you play?” Intentional or not, Dan appreciated that Brian didn’t linger on the topic of his flight from home.   
          “You see, that’s the thing,” Danny sighed, “I was in a few bands back home.  I tried this and that, but the only thing I’ve ever actually been good at is singing.  I can sort of play bass, but…”  he chuckled at his own expense “I guess because I’ve never had to actually try with singing, having to try at playing a  _ real _ instrument was just too hard for me.”   
          “Don’t put yourself down like that.  Your voice is a real instrument.  Even if you don’t  _ think _ you had to try at it…”  Brian cursed under his breath, “Arin once told me that talent is applied interest.  You only become good at something because you do it a lot.  If you sang a lot, you were working on it and naturally became better.”   
          “Do you miss Arin?”   
          “I don’t want to talk about it.”   
          “Okay.” Dan turned to look at him, slowly inching closer. “What about Terrence?”   
          “Sometimes.” Dan found it odd that Brian’s deceiving and lying ex had somehow become less of a sore spot than Arin’s betrayal.  “Mostly I’m glad he’s gone.  I don’t want to see him again.  I wasted too much of my time and effort on him.”   
          “I’m sorry you feel that way.” That was a feeling Dan knew distinctly.  Wasted time and effort on another person who would never be as invested as he was.   
          “You weren’t the one that did it.” Brian shrugged, “You have nothing to be sorry for.”   
          “No, but…  Do you ever feel language, well, English, sometimes isn’t enough?”   
          “Mn…  Explain more?”   
          “Like…  We have ‘sorry’ in English.  It means many things, like condolences or I did something wrong, but the feeling of being sorry…  Like being sorry for someone, being sorry because you did something or having sympathy because something happened can all be encompassed by ‘sorry’ and I think we need different words for all that.”   
          “You do realize that you just solved your own issue in explaining what you meant, right?” Brian tweaked an eyebrow, a bit of his earlier smile creeping back onto his face.   
          “Yeah, but…  Just saying ‘my sympathies’ sounds sarcastic and ingenuine.”   
          “You’re probably the only one I’ve met that sincerely worries about that kind of thing.”   
          “Ouch…”   
          “No…  It’s refreshing.” Brian amended at Dan’s evident hurt.   
          “Well, thanks then.” Dan giggled again.  “Did you ever go to the farmer’s market while you lived in town?”   
          “Yeah, why?”   
          “Is it any good?”   
          Brian shrugged in a “meh” kind of way, adding “Depends upon what you’re looking for.  It’s got other stuff besides produce.  People sell their game they catch and fish, Suzy and Arin sell art.”   
          Nodding, Dan returned his attention to the town in front of them, “Thinking of going this weekend.”  Their conversation trailed everywhere.  From musical interests--which they found they had many in common--to travel experiences--which Dan had significantly fewer.  He had known from all the magnets on the fridge that Brian had traveled all over creation, but the exact extent of it shocked him.  Brian had travelled all over the US, taught in Britain--he really  _ did _ get to be an American werewolf in London.   
          “My gosh, I’m glad your experience in London ended  _ a lot _ better than David’s.” Danny commented, long having leaned back onto one of his elbows as the hours grew late.   
          “Anything’s better than going berserk and being shot.” Brian conceded, tossing a rock somewhere off into the surrounding plants.   
          “Sounds like it.  I wouldn’t know anything about that.”   
          “I don’t know anything about the going berserk part.” And a tense moment passed between them.   
          “What actually happened to Terrence?” Dan didn’t look at Brian.  He knew the werewolf hadn’t attacked his own lover, but Arin said that Terrence had been covered in blood when he came running out of the forest.   
          “You want the truth?” Brian sighed, his voice sounding tired.   
          “What’s the sugar-coated version?” Dan asked, just out of curiosity.   
          “A pack of wolves out here attacked him.”   
          “That’s the  _ sugar coated _ version?”   
          “Yeah, it makes it sound like it wasn’t my fault.”   
          “How was it…  Your fault?”   
          “I’d been an idiot.” Brian sighed, rolling his head back to look up, then once more to the town, “I was watching the pups while the pack was out hunting.  I brought Terrence for my own company.  He hated children, but he loved puppies, and I thought it would be best to introduce him to the thought of fatherhood through babysitting the pups with me.”  Brian grumbled under his breath for a second, “I thought, since he was with me, that the wolves would know to not attack him.” He paused again, speaking with a sigh in his voice as he continued on “I was wrong though.  They were the alpha’s pups, and mom and dad didn’t take kindly to a face they didn’t recognize being near them.”   
          “Oh….”  Dan blinked as he listened.   
          “They attacked and got to Terrence before I could. I pulled the wolves off him, but damage had already been done and he just ran off.  The rest of the wolves went after him and even though I told them to stop, they just kept going.  I didn’t have much of a choice.  So…”  Brian scratched the back of his neck, his expression becoming uncertain, “I killed their alpha.”   
          Dan had no response, Brian’s regret was heavy in his tone.  There was nothing to say.   
          “I felt bad for it, but they stopped chasing him after that.” Brian shook his head “I guess Terrence had been looking for a way out for a long time and just used it as an opening.  I don’t know what he said, but by the time I had gotten back to town, everyone had their guns and chased me back into the forest.”   
          “Was that…  Was that the last time you went into town?”   
          “Oh, no…  A few weeks went by, hunters weren’t looking for me anymore, so I paid Keme a visit. I left my house and everything in it to him.  He told me Terrence had already gathered his things and left.  He tried to apologize, but, fuck it, I just didn’t care anymore.   _ That _ was the last time.”   
          “I’m…  I’m sorry, Brian.”   
          “Yeah, me too.”  Brian stood, prompting Dan to follow suit, “It’s been nice to hang out.”   
          “Y-Yeah, I think so.” Dan grinned to him, not being able to see Brian’s expression all that well in the darkness.   
          “I won’t be around the next few days.” Brian informed, “I’m teaching the pups how to hunt.”   
          “Aww,” Dan’s smile endured, “that’s cute.”   
          “Pff, you think me teaching pups how to hunt and  _ kill _ is cute?” Brian posed, a queer note in his voice.   
          “Well, yeah…  You get to be a father to them in some way.” Dan spoke without thinking.   
          “I…  Yes, you’re right.”  Brian turned his back to Dan, “See you next week.  Goodnight, Danny.”   
          “Night, Bri.” Dan bid him with a smile, his heart fluttering in his chest.   
***   
          “How’s Brian been?”  Arin eventually broke the string of relative radio silence.   
          “Oh…  You know…  He’s been fine.” Dan took a bite of his burger, “I think I should how have  _ you _ been?”   
          “Been better.” Arin replied honestly.   
          “Sorry to hear that.” Setting down his burger, Dan pointed out “You know, I think it’s funny that the first thing you ask me about is Brian after we’ve not had a real conversation in weeks.”   
          “I’m sorry,” Arin raised his hands defensively “I’ve just… Had a lot on my mind recently.”   
          “Mm, yeah.” Dan sipped his beer.   
          “Okay…  So, how  _ have _ you been?”   
          “Peachy.” Dan gave him a wry smile.   
          “Come on, don’t be snarky with me.” Arin sighed, “I’m sorry.  I’ve not seen Brian in years and then… You just come along and…” He shrugged helplessly.  “It’s hard for a man to take.”   
          “So, you’re jealous?” Dan assumed.   
          “He was my best friend.”   
          “I think it’s a lot less significant than you’re taking it.” He went on to offer, taking a few french fries into his mouth before continuing, “I’m someone new that wasn’t involved in what happened.  This town is pretty small and new faces that stick around are a rarity.”   
          Arin nodded a thoughtful expression on his face.  It seemed to add up to him, but he said nothing.  So, to facilitate, Dan went on to inform “Brian’s teaching the wolf pups how to hunt.” he was more frustrated than angry with Arin and he didn’t want to scorn the man who had given him practically everything he had in town.   
          “He is?” Arin smiled, “That’s awesome. Glad to hear there are pups this year.  Since Brian has taken to living out there, we don’t see the wolves that often.”   
          “I guess that’s because he tells them to stay away from here.” Dan provided.   
          “It’s good of him to…  Wolves are endangered and all.  We don’t need any reason to have to cull any of them.” A beat came and went, “Is he still angry at me…?”   
          Dan sighed, “He didn’t seem  _ angry _ ….  But I don’t know.  He just refuses to talk about you.”   
          “I see.” Arin looked back down to the bar.  “He knows I’m sorry…  For what happened, right?”   
          “I think so, yes.” Another beat…  “Trina wants to know if I can take her out to visit with him.”   
          “Yeah, I trust you and I know Brian will keep her safe anyway.” Arin lifted himself up off the bar, his lips pursing, “I’m glad he’s found someone he can talk to.”   
          Dan didn’t quite smile, but this was certainly an improvement on Arin’s outlook, the general cheer of the conversation picked up farther when Arin asked “Are we cool?”   
          “Yeah,” Dan actually did smile “we’re cool.”  He offered out a hand, which Arin readily took, grins on both their faces.   
***   
          Without Brian to visit, Dan found himself antsy after work.  His visits with Arin resumed, but they still lacked the luster they used to have.  Though the two of them had agreed that there were no hard feelings over much of the situation, Arin still seemed distant. Perhaps distant might not have been the word, more distracted, nonetheless, something held his attention beyond Dan, and Dan wasn’t sure if he cared to know what that was.  That being said, long, oppressive weekend days with nothing to do presented a challenge for him.  By midday Saturday, he had already done everything he had meant to do and more.  The laundry was done, meals for the coming week had been prepared, the house and kitchen were  _ both  _ clean and he even had time to read.   
          “This sucks.” He remarked to himself, flopping his worn copy of  _ The Last Unicorn _ to the coffee table.  Checking his watch, he realized he still had a few more hours of the farmer’s market to catch.  Shopping and looking around could only hold his attention for so long, but it was better than laying around Brian’s house.   
  
          The farmer’s market was bright and sunny and warm, in more ways than just the temperature.  There were a few faces Dan didn’t know in the crowd, but some quick questions told him that people from Moose Factory caught ferries to enjoy the farmer’s market on Saturdays.  He hadn’t been to Moose Factory yet and he decided that that needed to be fixed before the time he was due to leave.  Just like with Moosonee, there wasn’t a whole lot to do, but there was a restaurant across the waterway as well as a Cree cultural center.   
          Browsing the selection of vegetables and fruit on sale, Dan realized he had plenty of money to spare for once.  It was not something he was used to having, but as rent and utilities all went through Keme, he ended up with plenty of disposable income.  This worked well for him, because he always felt bad for visiting a display by someone at the farmer’s market and not buying anything before leaving.   
          A bundle of arugula and another bundle of asparagus later, Dan was feeling it was time to leave soon.  He had already passed by Suzy and Arin’s booth, looking at all the splendid jewelry Suzy had for sale as well as home decorations, and he had played with Trina.  Soon enough, the happy family of three had to pack up and head home.  Dan mentioned he would be by later, however, as he stood over a display of carrots and rhubarb, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise.  With a shiver, his eyes darted around the open pavement space.  Everyone was still milling about undisturbed, talking, laughing, children running and playing with considerably noisy dogs.  The dogs honestly seemed spooked.   
          “Hm,” Dan followed the eyes of a labrador retriever to the treeline beyond a bread booth.  His heart jumped into his throat as he saw a familiar shape leaning against a tree.  Even better, he was wearing  _ pants _ .  Catching a subtle uptick in Brian’s expression under his thick beard, Dan moved away from the kiosk he had been inspecting to head to the edge of the forest.  To his surprise, Brian stepped out of the treeline to meet him halfway on the grass.   
          The moonlight and darkness hid a multitude of sins on Brian’s bare body.  Under the unforgiving light of the sun, Dan saw the hard lines of a lean life and the scars of his past.  Literal scars, at Brian’s greying temple and spreading to the corner of his right eye, was a patch of skin paler than the rest.  At its center, the scar was a rough blob, its edges peppered with smaller, harder to define scars that went to his cheek.  If Danny squinted, he saw the spray of small scars extend past Brian’s nose up to his left eyebrow; he could wonder what could cause such a scar, but his stomach churned as he was sure he already knew the answer.   
          “Fancy meeting you here.” Brian greeted, a lightness to his voice Danny hadn’t often heard.   
          “Didn’t think this was my scene?” Danny chuckled, kicking at the grass beneath his feet.   
          “I mean, it wasn’t like you had said anything about it or anything.”   
          “Nah, purely coincidence.”   
          “I’d say so if I hadn’t meant to find you here.” Brian reached a hand out, grazing his fingertips down Danny’s forearm.   
          “Oh,” Danny’s face flushed, a nervous chuckle breaking from him, “make a guy feel appreciated, why don’t you.”   
          “Mmmn, I think I will.” Brian smirked, “Your offer of getting a drink sometime, is that still open?”   
          Was this really happening?  Danny’s heart sped up to a race, surely Brian just wanted something casual, they hadn’t even known each other for that long…  Then again, Dan was a guy open to sex on a first date, so maybe he had nothing to talk about.  Wait!  When was sex even a mention?!  This had nothing to do with that!  Someone slap him, or pinch him, or punch him, because he was totally dreaming.   
          “Sure, yeah!” Dan answered, trying to sound calmer than he felt and failing entirely.   
          “Sweet.” Brian’s smirk softened to a delicate smile; not long after, Dan caught the focus of Brian’s eyes going past him.  Of course their meeting hadn’t gone unnoticed by a town that had not seen this rather prominent member in a few years.   
          Dan glanced over his shoulder, while motion hadn’t completely stopped, many were staring at them as they went about their business.  Afraid that the attention would make Brian flee back into the safety of the forest, Dan reached out to take his hand, “Do you want to go back to my place first?  So you can get a shirt and some shoes?”   
          “I think you mean  _ my _ place?” Brian snarked with good humor, not seeming the least bit upset by the attention.   
          “Yeah,” Danny laughed, “I’m sure most of your clothes are going to be big on you though.”   
          “Ah, that’s for the best, I haven’t been able to realize the past few years how much I genuinely hate wearing clothes.” Brian  _ chuckled _ , an actual expression of humor came from his lips and Dan knew he wanted to make that sort of thing much more common with him.  “The looser the better.”   
          “We can…  Get going now if you’d like.” Dan’s smile spread into an ear-to-ear grin, “I’m done here.” He indicated the two bundles of plants under one arm.   
          “I’d love to.” Brian gave the hand in his a gentle squeeze, stepping closer to the crowded pavement under the mid-afternoon sun.  Dan didn’t notice any tension in his body until Brian stood on the pavement, humans all around, smiling and waving to him.  His grip on Danny’s hand tightened and Dan knew he needed to remove him from the farmer’s market as soon as possible, lest Brian change his mind about this.   
          “Right this way.” Danny said to gather Brian’s attention away from the crowd of humans that parted around them as they walked, “You remember how to get back through town, don’t you?”   
          “Yes…” Brian pushed out as if his voice was trying to fail him.  A quiet whine slipped from his throat and his steps were all the more halting the farther they went from the treeline.   
          “You sure?  I’m with you if you need help remembering.” Danny tried to keep him engaged, Brian’s eyes turned up to his.   
          “I’m…”  Brian drew in a deep breath, squeezing his eyes shut.  His grip on Dan’s hand intensified, cracking Danny’s knuckles, but Dan did not try to remove his hand from him. “Just lead the way.”   
          “Certainly.”  Tugging Brian along, bodies pressed close, Danny hurriedly lead him out of the farmer’s market and down the street.  They rounded a corner to a near-uninhabited street and Danny breathed “We’re far away now.”   
          Brian’s eyes cracked open, wary of the alien landscape around him, “This is…  Harder than I thought it would be.”   
          “Well, the last time you were out here, everyone was out for your skin.” Dan reminded in a soft voice.   
          “It’s not that.” Brian shook his head, forcing himself to continue walking alongside Danny. “It’s…  Not right.  I’m not supposed to be here.  It makes my skin crawl.”   
          “I’m… Not sure I understand.” Danny frowned, stopping them both at a street corner to watch for cars before crossing the street.   
          “This is where people live…  I’m a wolf.” Brian stated as if that much should’ve been obvious to Danny.   
          “Now, Brian,” Danny scoffed, “you’re still a  _ person _ .  Just, not a human person.” It made sense in his head anyway.   
          “Semantics.” Brian groused, eyes scanning every which way for threats as he stuck close to Danny, “You know what I meant.”   
          “You asked  _ me _ out, pal.” Danny pointed out as the drew closer to Brian’s home.  “So…  I’ll tell you what, since you came all the way out here to ask me…  If you want to do this again, I can come out with  _ you _ in the woods sometime.”   
          “You already  _ do _ that.” Brian reminded with a smile, but as soon as it was there, it went again and he was checking the streets and windows once more.  Dan watched Brian sniff the air and his lips curl back as if to bare his teeth, but they settled quickly.   
          “Well…  But I still stay close to the forest edge.  I mean I could go far out with you.”   
          Brian shook his head, “If we’re going anywhere  _ far _ together…  I’d like it to be Toronto.”   
          Dan let out a single laugh of subdued doubt, “If you can’t handle being in a small town of humans, how are you going to handle being in a  _ big city _ of humans?”   
          Brian gave him a hopeful look, “I was looking to test today, if being with you is enough to keep me calm.”   
          “Oh…”  Dan felt his flush renew, “well, I….”--How  _ did _ he feel about that?--“I’m flattered?  I don’t seem to be doing a good job.”  They stepped up the porch of Brian’s home, Dan pulling out a key to unlock the door.   
          “I’ve not run back to the forest yet, you’re doing fine.” Brian encouraged, stepping inside with Danny.  He sniffed the air, Danny’s scent everywhere and comforting enough to allow him to release the man’s hand and step around the room.  “I’m sorry I left the mess.” He motioned to where the smashed photograph had been.   
          “Um… I mean,” Dan shrugged, “It’s your house, so… It’s okay?”  Making sure he stayed near Brian, he let him explore his home.  He smiled as he heard Brian’s nose working overtime to process all the scents that had settled in after his absence.  “Does… The place smell weird?”   
          “No, smells like you and dust.” Brian chuckled, poking his head into his office.  He ran his hand over the shell of his printer and down his desk.  Getting to his computer, he sighed, “I know his picture is still the background on this computer.”   
          “I wouldn’t know.  Never tried turning it on.” Danny supplied.   
          Brian nodded and looked back to his collection of books, his brow furrowing.  He picked one book down, it appeared to be a collection of essays on subjects that Danny had never heard of.  Flipping the book over, Brian saw his own face smiling back at him above the synopsis of the tome. The picture was old, probably from the early 2000s. With an unhappy expression, Brian slid the book back into its slot on the dusty shelf.   
          “I’ve not thought about any of this in so long.” His tone was almost mournful, “I wonder how much progress has been made since I left.” Picking down another book, he opened it to its table of contents, “My senior dissertation is in this one.” The lines around his eyes crinkled, and he showed the line off to Danny.   
          “Somehow, I don’t think this is fair.” Danny laughed.   
          “What do you mean?” Brian took the book back, closing it to slide it into its slot.   
          “That you’re a werewolf, and a PhD scientist of some shit I don’t know dick about, you’re funny, you play music,  _ and _ you’re hot.”   
          For the first time since Danny had met him, Brian threw his head back, laughter full of mirth.  Sliding his hands into the pockets of his pants, Brian came down from his chortles, slight giggles remaining in his words as he spoke “You know, sometimes I don’t think it is either.” Then his face dropped to a deadpan, his voice following suit “I sold my soul for it all.”   
          Danny gave him a short, playful slap on the shoulder, “Real modest one here.”   
          “Oh, just wait, I get worse.”  Brian breezed on past him through to the rest of the house.  Danny tailed him, but went to sit on the couch as he saw Brian heading upstairs.  “You’ll find I can be an absolute  _ tool _ .”   
          “Eh, I’m sure you can’t be that bad.” Danny tipped his head back, looking up the balusters of the staircase to where Brian’s hand rested on the rail.   
          “You have no idea, silly little man.” Brian’s smile turned into a sly smirk, but he disappeared to the second floor, Danny having to wait for him to dress.


	8. 8

          Brian’s return from the second floor hadn’t been as surprising as Danny had thought it would be.  The t-shirt Brian had picked was a nerdy one reading “I periodically wear this shirt” over the table of elements and it _was_ big on him; it hadn’t been too hard to adjust to seeing Brian wear clothes after all.  A worn pair of canvas flip-flops on Brian’s feet completed his “nerdy dad” aesthetic.  
          “How’s it feel to be wearing clothes again?” Dan asked as he stood, pocketing his phone.  
          “Itchy.” Brian growled, clenching his jaw and showing off his sparkling white, sharp teeth while he pulled at the shirt.  “I can’t believe I did this all my life before.”  
          “Just something you grow used to…” Dan presented, reaching up to play with his messy hair, “I’ve never thought about it.”  He needed to cut this shaggy mess, it was getting scary long.  
          “You’re human, it’s not a big deal to you.” Brian patted Dan’s shoulder before going to the door.  He paused as he wrapped his hand around the knob though, pitching a less confident look back over his shoulder to Danny, “I might need your help.”  
          Danny came to his side without further explanation needed, “I’m here.” He pressed one of his large hands to the small of Brian’s back, providing a gentle pressure.  
          Keeping their eyes locked together, Brian turned the knob and pulled the door inward, “Thank you.”  
  
          The walk to Sky Ranch had been less tense than the walk from the market.  Brian’s eyes still swung around everywhere, he sniffed the air, and turned his head this way and that to listen for anything unfamiliar. Dan refrained from commenting on the relatively odd behavior because it was likely Brian’s diligence that kept him safe in the forest.  Though he was bigger than any bear--and was evidently immune to wounds that would otherwise be mortal from guns--dangerous situations were still best to be avoided.  
Dan’s eyes occasionally flitted to the spread of scars on Brian’s otherwise handsome face.  All the photos he had seen of Brian, the scars weren’t present, but there was no way to know how recent those pictures had been.  Even if they were older than four or five years, only one thing could’ve left such an obvious scar.  
          The bad blood between Arin and Brian went deeper than he had imagined.  
          A pleasant jingle rang through the Sky Ranch Restaurant as Danny pushed the door open.  A waitress quickly came to greet them, but stopped dead at the sight of Brian. Her face was sheet white as if she had seen a ghost, “Good afternoon, Doctor Wecht.”  
          “Hello Ms. Beecher.” Brian gave her an amicable smile, “Surprised to see you here.  How’s Mr. Crandall these days?”  
          Danny looked between the two, not one to interrupt, but there was a certain professional decorum between them that told Danny they perhaps had worked together in some capacity.  By her young age, perhaps a student?  He didn’t venture a guess and kept to himself.  They were seated soon enough and “Ms. Beecher” headed immediately for the back kitchen.  
          “Word is going to get around fast…” Dan mumbled under his breath, knowing Brian could hear him crystal clear in spite of his low volume.  
          “I know.” Brian’s shoulders were tense, his fingers digging into his palms.  “That’s…  Fine though.”  
          Dan leaned forward, his elbows on the table, “Why did you decide to come out now?”  
          Giving Dan one of his mile-long stares, his eyes distant, he informed in a quiet tone “You were right.”  
          “I was?” Danny puzzled, his face spelling out the rest of his question “about what?”  
          “I’ve had enough of hiding.” Brian’s voice was small, but there was real conviction in it “Not everyone has a wolf skin to wear to escape problems.”  
          While Dan knew this was a good thing for him to admit, he also saw the way Brian looked at him.  Or rather, the way Brian looked _through_ him.  “Not everyone has the money to run to a different country to escape theirs either…”  
          Brian said nothing, blinking to segue his gaze up to their waitress Lacey, “I’ll have a water please, no ice.”  
          “Water for me too.” Dan asked when prompted, “And this will be on one check.”  He watched Lacey go before gathering the courage to look back to Brian.  
          “Do your parents know you’re up here?” The elder man asked.  
          “Do your parents know you’re even still alive?” Dan rebutted.  
          “Both my parents are dead.”  
          “Oh…  I’m sorry to hear that…” Wow, Dan felt like a dick.  “Um… No, they don’t.  I’ve been writing a letter…  Planning to send it soon.”  
          Brian nodded, “It’s all right, It’s been almost ten years now.  Treasure the time while you have them.” He laced his fingers together in front of his mouth, resting his lips against them.  
          “Did you ask me out just so you could chastise me on my life choices?” Dan grumbled, trying to keep any hostility out of his voice.  He failed.  
          “No.” Brian answered his voice neutral, “I asked you out because you’re cute and I’m tired of only having wolves for friends.”  
          “Hah, I guess I’m at least a _little_ more interesting than that.”  
          Brian shrugged, “I dunno yet.”  
          It took Danny a second to process that Brian was joking, “You’ve got a perfect pokerface for that kind of shit.”  
          “I always have.” Brian dropped his hands back to the table, leaning against the backrest of the booth.  “When I lived in New York, I was a comedian.  Did some improv work with a theatre or two.”  
          “Okay, so, hold on, what _haven’t_ you done again?” Danny asked through a giggle.  
          “Hm… Walked on the moon?”  
          “Of course.” The two settled into a rhythm that was becoming more familiar by the day.  They talked about any and everything.  Dan put his foot in his mouth, Brian assured him it was okay with a witty rejoinder and so they went on.  They ordered meals--Dan something light with plenty of vegetables and Brian something unexpected:  “I’ll have the personal pizza with green olives, pineapple, and anchovies.  Extra red sauce, please.”  
          “Glad to have you back, Doctor Wecht.” Lacey giggled as she wrote their orders down and skittered on back with the rest of the wait staff to the kitchen.  
          “Wow, a wolf ordering a pizza like that…  Would’ve figured you’d be a ‘meat lovers’ kind of guy.” Danny asserted with an expression of half disgust, and half amusement.  
          “You’d be surprised what I missed about living with humans.” Brian said to the grain of the table through a smile.  
          “Oh yeah?  Like what else?”  
          “Can’t let all that out yet.” Brian teased, “Got to preserve the air of mystery.”  He wiggled his fingers like a true master of misdirection and deflection.  
          “Oh, going broody YA novel now?” Danny perked an eyebrow.  
          “Hah, a regular Edward Cullen, I know.”  
          “Well, you don’t exactly sparkle in the sunlight.” Danny observed before taking a sip of water.  “But how are your table manners?”  
          “I’ve not eaten at a table in a long time, we’ll have to see.”  
          As it turned out, Brian was no more or less disgusting than anyone else when he ate pizza.  There was a crude noise here and an “ah” of pleasure occasionally.  Mostly, it just looked like Brian really _loved_ his foul-smelling pizza.  While Dan remained in shock and horror of his flavor combination, he also found Brian’s enthusiasm heartening in a way.  As they both wound down from their meal and Danny accepted the check, he looked up from the table to find Brian staring out the window.  He didn’t know what at, maybe it was something only his werewolf senses could pick up, or maybe the forest was just calling to him again…  Danny hoped not, he wanted to hold onto him as long as was humanly possible.  
          “You mentioned Toronto…” Danny broached, sitting the money owed and tip aside.  
          “Yes, I did.” Brian returned his attention from the window to the young man sitting in front of him. “Why?”  
          “Well… I was thinking… It might be a little hairy right now…  Doing stuff and there’s not much to do here.”  
          “Are you asking me to go to Toronto with you for a few days, Daniel?” Brian chuckled, “Just you and a big, bad wolf in a hotel room together?”  
          To be honest, that shouldn’t have sounded as hot as it did, “Uh, I don’t think I would mind that.”  
          “Well….  I’ll have to really think about it.  Not because I’m hesitant to be in a city, more, I need to tell the pack I’ll be absent.”  
          Dan nodded, drumming his fingers on the table, “I’ll have to check my funds anyway, it was pretty expensive just getting from Toronto to up here…”  
          “I’ll pay half.” Brian shrugged.  
          “Dude, you’ve been a wolf the past two years--”  
          “And you don’t think I had a bank account during that time?” He tweaked an eyebrow across the table at Danny, “That’s been doing nothing the last two years aside from accruing interest?”  
          “What about Terrence?” Dan brought up, he assumed the two had had some kind of joint account.  However, Brian shook his head, explaining “We were never formally married.  We had separate accounts.  No need for paperwork to be served or money to be divided.”  
          “That’s convenient.” Dan admitted, “Are all your documents and things still in the house somewhere?”  
          “Oh, yeah.  You’ve not found the fire box?” Suddenly, Brian seemed uneasy.  
          “No…  Where would it have been?”  
          “In the back of the closet.”  
          “To be honest, I haven’t looked…  It didn’t seem right to go through someone else’s things.” Dan gave a sheepish chuckle.  
          “But you went through my music book?” Brian questioned with good humor in his voice, “That’s more telling than the clothes I wore.”  
          “You were the one that left it open.” Dan laughed.  
          “Let’s go.  I need to make sure Terrence didn’t just take the whole thing when he left.  His stuff was in there too.” Brian stood up from the table, Dan following suit.  The two stood shoulder-to-shoulder for a second, Brian reaching for Dan’s hand as they headed for the exit.  
          At once, Brian was tense again as they stood on the sidewalk.  His eyes sought, his ears twitched and his muscles were ready to run.  If he was like this in a small town, Danny couldn’t even imagine what he was going to be like in Toronto…  It had been Brian’s idea, sure, but Danny had the distinct feeling that he was overestimating his abilities to deal with an environment that held more dangers than the forest.  At least, he supposed, Brian didn’t have to worry about people pointing guns at him in Toronto; concealed carry licenses weren’t a thing unless you were a police officer.  
          “Do you…  Are you coming with me now?” Dan wondered as Brian appeared to be staring at the landscape beyond the town.  
          “Yes, I must.” Brian hauled Danny along beside him, his grip on his hand never faltering.  This was a true task for him as they wove between the buildings and crossed the streets.  The sounds of cars set Brian’s teeth on edge and the assault of human smells made him feel sick.  Dan did what he could to ease Brian’s tension, but he knew nothing would besides running back to the embrace of the woods.  All of these stresses were compounded by the eyes on them.  
          Since the farmer’s market had emptied out by mid-afternoon, many more faces that recognized Brian roamed the streets.  Many held expressions of shock and disbelief; whether it was because Brian was among them at all, or because of the scar that took up so much of his face, Danny didn’t know.  By the time they had arrived back at Brian’s house, the werewolf looked exhausted.  He shouldered his way inside the house and lifted his hands to his face.  
          “Hey, man…  Are you okay?” Danny reached out a hand to stroke down Brian’s back.  He quickly found his hand smacked away by Brian’s wrist and took a step back as a disconcerting growl slid from his new friend.  “Uh… Should I… Should I go?”  
          “No.” Brian ground out between his gritted teeth. “I’m just…” He took in a breath and let it out, sliding his hands up his face and ruffling them through his hair.  “Not used to any of this anymore.”  
          “Two years _is_ a long time to be gone, man.” Danny soothed, but refrained from trying to touch him again.  
          “Not _that_ long.” Brian amended, “I spent all my life up until then living with humans, hell, I _was_ human once…  Two years should be nothing.” His shoulders slumped, the fight draining out of him, “Maybe I’m not meant to interact with humans.  If adjusting to my life out there was so much easier.”  
          “Now, Brian,” Danny knew where this was going, “you’ve only been back for one day…  Human life is…  Stressful anyway.  It’s okay.”  
          Dan watched Brian shake his head, slow and deliberate, “It shouldn’t be this hard.” He turned his back to Dan and went up the stairs to what had once been his bedroom.  Danny, not having any other choice, tailed him up and into the room.  Finding Brian sniffing about, he remained back as Brian ran his hands over everything.  
          “It’s weird that everything already smells like you.” Brian commented, opening the closet door and leaning down to rifle through the objects that littered the floor.  In no time at all, Brian produced the firebox from a dark corner, its key still in the lock. “At least he didn’t take the key too.” Holding the heavy metal box in one arm with inhuman ease, Brian lifted the lid and looked inside.  Everything he needed was indeed still present, it looked almost exactly the way he had left it with the exception of Terrence’s documents.  
          “Do you still want to go back to the forest?” Dan tried to disguise the note of disappointment in his voice, but, as a man who wore his heart on his sleeve, it wasn’t possible.  
          “I won’t lie, yes, I do.” Brian sat on the bed, putting the box aside.  
          “Will you come back?” Dan moved towards the bed with hesitant steps.  Once he reached the bed, he lifted a knee and slid across the rumpled comforter to Brian’s side, laying a hand on his shoulder.  To his delight, Brian didn’t turn away or shrug him off.  
          “I will.” Brian spoke, his voice low, but firm.  “I enjoyed today, in spite of everything.” His head turned and he looked Dan in the eye, “I had fun with you.”  
          “I had fun with you too.” Dan felt his cheeks flush and his eyes went to Brian’s lips.  He thought they were both leaning towards each other, but it turned out that he had just leaned towards Brian.  Trying to gauge his reaction, Dan inched closer to him on the bed, but was disappointed as Brian turned his head towards the floor. “Uh,” well, that was embarrassing, “do you want to go now, or would you like to stay?”  
          “I think I should go.” Brian stood, Dan’s hand sliding off his shoulder and down his back. “I promise I’ll come back…”  
          “Okay,” Dan flicked his eyes from Brian back to the pattern of the comforter. “Do you want me to walk you out?”  
          For a long moment, Brian said nothing.  Once the moment passed, however, Brian breathed “I would like that.”  
  
          The two walked with laced fingers the few blocks to the edge of the neighborhood.  It felt to Dan that he was just about the only person in town whose yard did not back up against the woods.  He wondered if Brian and Terrence had done that purposefully, or if it merely was coincidence.  It didn’t matter immensely, it just meant that Dan had more time with Brian.  
          Standing at the edge of the sidewalk, Dan let his fingers fall from Brian’s, together, they stepped into the grass between the town and the woods.  He watched Brian pull his shirt off and caught it as it was tossed to him.  At the edge of the trees, Brian slipped his feet out of the flip-flops, wiggling his toes in the grass and twigs. Dan expected him to hand his shorts and belt to him as he dropped both to the ground, but got a pleasant surprise when the buck-naked man picked the shorts up and held them to his chest.  An awkwardness crept between them, not because Brian was naked, but neither were sure what to do with the moment.  Did they hug?  Did they kiss?  Did they shake hands, or just wave to each other?  
          “Do you want me to come visit tomorrow?” Dan licked his lips, unable to stand the silence anymore.  
          “No, I’ll visit you.” Brian imparted, taking his first step into the trees and undergrowth, “You’ve come to visit me in my home so many times, I owe it to you.”  
          “Do you want me to be here?” Dan pushed his hands into his pockets to avoid reaching out to touch him again.  
          Brian, once again, replied with “No.” Then moved along “I need to become confident with humans on my own again.”  
          After his behavior today, Dan found it hard to believe that Brian would be able to do just that so soon.  Nonetheless, he had to be careful to not express these doubts, nothing was worse than a friend that didn’t believe in your own capabilities.  
          “What time should I expect you, then?”  
          “Tomorrow’s Sunday, right?” Brian questioned, but it seemed less for Dan to answer and more to remind himself of the moment, “Expect me around noon.”  
          “Great, I’ll make breakfast.” Dan grinned.  
          “Don’t you mean lunch?”  
          “No, you really think I get out of bed earlier than noon when I don’t have to?” He laughed as Brian shook his head with a smile.  
          “All right, breakfast, it is. See you tomorrow.”  Brian gave a little wave, his fingers wiggling before putting his shorts and belt into his mouth.  Shifting his body into a more familiar shape, he broke into a four-legged run into the forest, Dan waving at him as he left.  
***  
          Dan wasn’t expecting to wake as early as he did.  Normally it was a miracle if he woke before one--though he told Brian noon to not seem like _too much_ of a slacker--but someone was blowing up his phone.  Groaning, he grabbed the offending object from the bedside table and pulled it to his ear, “Hullo?”  
          “Yo, Dan, it’s Arin.” Said man sounded very peppy for it being nine AM.  What time did he even get up?!  Probably some ungodly time like…   _Eight-thirty_.  
          “M’yeah, what’s up?”  
          “I uh… I heard you and Brian were together at Sky Ranch yesterday…”  Of course.  
          “Yeah, what about it?”  
          “What do you _mean_ what about it?! He’s not been in town in a long time and you just act like it’s nothing.”  
          “We were on a date, I didn’t think it was anyone else’s business.” Dan reprimanded, too tired to bother with pleasantries.  
          “You were…  On a date?”  
          “Yeah.”  
          “Like, a date-date?”  
          “Yeah.” Dan’s patience was wearing thin.  
          “Oh…” Arin made a nervous sound away from the phone receiver, he was likely talking to Suzy. “How did it go?”  
          Though Arin couldn’t see it, Dan moved his shoulders in a shrugging motion against the bed “It was okay.  He doesn’t like being in town.  I couldn’t get him to stay very long.”  
          “Ah, yeah, I figured…”  A long silence passed between them.  
          “Look, I was sleeping, is there something you needed?”  
          “I was just checking in to see how he was…” Arin’s tone was cautious, whatever it was he wanted, he had lost the nerve to ask.  “Does he _look_ okay?”  
          Oh…  “Part of his face looks like someone tried to blast his head off.” Dan hadn’t meant his tone to be so caustic when Arin was genuinely concerned, but…  
          “Ah… I… I figured it might…”  
          “Was that all you wanted?” Dan rolled over onto his back to stare up at the ceiling.  
          “Yeah.  Are you going to come by the Brewhouse today?”  
          “No, I’m supposed to do something with Brian.”  Now Dan felt like he was needlessly rubbing the situation in Arin’s face and though he felt bad for it, he still felt a need to do it.  Why was he like this?  
          “Okay, that’s cool.  Tell him I said hi?”  
          “Sure.” Dan was very near falling asleep again.  As they had run out of anything to talk about, he and Arin said their goodbyes and ended the call. With the phone replaced on the nightstand, Danny let his eyes close again and he was back to sleep in seconds.  
          The next time he woke up, wasn’t because of his alarm.  There was a knocking sound in the house.  More specifically, the knock was at the bedroom window…  Sitting up, Dan picked up his phone, reading the time as well past noon.  
          “Shit.” Dan scrambled out of bed, his legs getting caught up in the sheets and comforter, causing him to stumble across the room and into the window the knocking was at. “Mmnn,” He rubbed where his chest had hit the windowsill and pulled the drapes back from the bright window. “How did you even get _up here_?” Dan asked as he yanked one window pane up and open for Brian.  
          “Werewolf.” said man passed off with a laugh. “If I can’t jump high enough, I certainly can _climb_ high enough.”  
          “Sorry, Arin called me this morning and got my sleep all messed up.” Dan explained, going from the window to let Brian climb inside.  He picked up a pair of jeans--which may or may not have been the exact pair he had worn the day before--and pulled them up over his hips.  
          Brian closed and locked the window after himself, “What did he have to say?”  
          “He just wanted to tell me to tell you that he said ‘hi’.” Danny murmured while he searched for a t-shirt to put on.  He needed to do laundry. Or buy new clothes, either was an option. Avoiding life’s problems--and petty household chores--with consumerism for the win!  
          Brian grunted in response, which didn’t surprise Dan in the slightest.  
          “Sorry breakfast is going to be a little late.” Dan gave Brian’s back a companionable pat, “One more thing you can blame on Arin.”  
          “I’d prefer it if you didn’t look at it like that.”  As Dan walked out of the bedroom, Brian followed.  
          “Then how should I look at it?”  Dan didn’t mean to sound harsh, but he was fresh out of bed.  
          “Arin hasn’t done anything to you, and he’s not a _bad_ man, Dan.” Brian spoke carefully, Dan’s uncustomary mood setting him on edge.  “He had his reasons for doing what he did.”  Brian brushed his fingers back over the balder side of his head. “From the information that he had.”  
          “Does that make it okay?” Dan posed, pausing at the foot of the stairs.  
          Brian was silent for a few moments before following him down, “I don’t think it’s something that needs a ruling.  It was something that happened, Arin thought it was right and he knows he’s wrong.”  
          “If that makes it okay, then why not try to make amends?”  
          “Dan,” Brian sighed, closing his eyes to lift one hand to his shoulder, “I appreciate your concern…  But it’s not your problem or your battle.”  
          “I know.” Dan nodded, lifting a hand to put it onto Brian’s “I just…  I care, you know?”  
          Smiling, Brian gave his shoulder a squeeze “I know you do.”  
  
          Breakfast primarily consisted of Dan cooking every last thing in his house for Brian--the werewolf hungrily swallowing all the offerings down--and himself more carefully orchestrating his meal.  The two settled to talk, Dan asking how the wolf cubs were doing.  
          “They’re… Clumsy at best.” Brian laughed past a mouth of venison; he swallowed before continuing “They don’t really have names, but the one I call Alice caught a rabbit the other day.  I was so proud.”  
          Even if Brian hadn’t announced his pride, Dan would’ve known.  The way Brian spoke of the cubs, they almost sounded like they really were his children.  While Dan couldn’t relate intimately with such a feeling, he had nephews…  Nephews who might think that he was dead…  His heart suddenly sank and he sat his fork aside, hunger leaving him.  How could he have been so selfish?  
          “Everything all right?” Brian asked, sipping what was his third glass of orange juice.  
          “Yeah, just…  It’s cute hearing you talk about the cubs.”  
          “Just goes to show you I’m cute no matter what I’m talking about.” Brian grinned, continuing to slog through his voluminous breakfast.  
          “Yeah, read me the dictionary sometime.” Dan laughed.  
          “Or I could read you one of those volumes I have.  Teach you about string theory.”  
          “Uh…  No offense man, I probably wouldn’t remember anything.”  
          Brian shrugged as if to say “that’s okay” before explaining “I really wouldn’t expect you to be listening to me talking about entropy anyway.”  
          “It’s all about _how_ you say it, not what you say.”  Dan giggled, loving the way Brian’s eyes twinkled with merriment.  
          “Yeah.” Brian agreed, “It can make ‘I am a jelly doughnut’ sound like one of the greatest phrases of solidarity ever spoken.”  
          “I’m convinced there’s nothing that you don’t have some kind of pre-recorded comment for.” Dan took another bite of his vegetables.  
          “Comes from being an improv actor.” Brian reminded him, going back to his food.  
          The two talked for awhile longer until their plates were empty and Brian’s prodigious appetite had been sated.  Danny rose to wash the dishes, but Brian pushed him back down to his chair with a firm hand, “You cooked, I clean.” He informed, going to the sink with all the plate and cookware.  “It is my house after all.”  
          As much as Dan didn’t want to admit that he had a point, he settled back down into his chair, asking “Does it feel weird being back in here?”  
          “Not in the way that you’d think.  I don’t smell Terrence on anything, and this house is full of memories with him…” Brian spoke slowly, as if having to wrench the words from his lips.  
          “Do you miss him?” Maybe it was best if Dan _didn’t_ ask, but he couldn’t keep his curiosity niggling at the back of his mind.  
          “You’ve asked this before.” Brian chuckled.  
          “Have I?” Dan squinted up at the ceiling in thought.  
          “Yeah, last week.”  
          “Well, has your answer changed since last week?”  
          With a snort of humor, Brian answered “I don’t think so…  His betrayal was worse than Arin’s.” Though Brian continued to speak slowly, it seemed to come easier “Arin had been lied to and had no reason to disbelieve Terrence’s words.  Terrence, on the other hand, had no such excuse.  He knew that I would never let anything hurt him if I could avoid it.  He still chose to mislead my best friend and a whole town.”  
          “Yeah…”  Dan sighed to himself, looking to Brian’s back as he put the dishes in a rack to dry.  “Still interested in Toronto?”  
          “Of course.” Brian murmured, “We have the firebox with my things in it, it won’t be hard for me to gain access to my things again.  Of course, things like my PIN haven’t been important to remember the past few years, so I’ll have to actually sit down with someone at the bank, but,” he shrugged, “Most everyone here knows about my… Condition.”  
          “I don’t think call it a condition is correct.” Danny asserted.  
          “Maybe it isn’t, but it fucked up my life for a long time.” Brian turned to lean his hip on the counter, folding his arms across his chest, “When do you want to go?”  
          “Oh, I’ll need to put in at work, but…”  Danny thought for a few moments, “I’d like to go before the full moon can be an issue.”  
          “Mn, well… Tonight’s the new moon, so, next week?  Or two weeks?  We don’t want to cut it too close, I get antsy around that time.”  Brian scratched over his thick beard, a light of inspiration coming to his eyes in that moment, “Do you have a razor I can use?”  
          “Sure, up in your bathroom.”  Dan gestured to the stairs beyond the kitchen doorframe.  “Go for it, I can finish cleaning up.”  
          “Thank you.” Brian smiled and left the kitchen, Danny doing as he said he would and getting the rest of the kitchen in order.  
  
          Danny scrolled through his phone, looking at train ticket prices and hotels in the Toronto area.  Hearing footsteps on the stairs, he looked up behind the sofa he sat upon, catching Brian’s eye.  The usually dour man was grinning from ear-to-ear and Danny’s pulse quickened.  
          “How do I look?” Brian asked, his wildman beard tamed down to a modest shadow on his cheeks and chin.  
          “Do you want me to be honest?”  
          “Do your worst.” Brian stood above Dan, remaining on the stairs, arms folded on the bannister, a packet of papers in hand.  
          “You’re very handsome.” Dan smiled up at him, head tipped back against the balusters of the staircase.  
          “You’re not an eyesore yourself.” Brian answered, standing up from the bannister again to finish going down the stairs.  Under his arm, Danny spied the papers again.  
          “What ya doing with that?” Dan enquired, guessing the papers were legal documents.  
          “I was hoping to get my bank account back in order today.” Brian explained, shoving his feet into his canvas flipflops.  
          “Oh, uh, sorry to tell you man, but…”  
          Brian’s shoulders slumped, “It’s Sunday, isn’t it?”  
          “Yep…”  
          “You humans are so lazy.” Brian stepped back out of his flipflops and dropped down onto the couch next to Dan.  His knees bounced, his fingers twiddled, he just looked…   _Uncomfortable._  
          “Hey, I’ll tell you what, since you don’t like being inside right now, want to go for a walk?” Dan offered, not one to sit idly by while someone was obviously not having fun.  
He caught a subtle eye-roll from Brian before hearing “Did you just ask if I wanted to go for a walk?”  
          “Uh….  Yeah?  Is…  Do you not like walks?” Danny wracked his brain, trying to figure out how that could’ve _possibly_ meant anything else other than the question he had asked.  
          Brian laughed, settling back upon his couch, “Wow, not one for dog jokes are you?”  
          “Oh!” Dan felt like an idiot for just a second as he palmed his forehead, “Sorry, I kind of forget you’re a big wolf when I see you like this.  Out of sight, out of mind.”  
          “Really?” Brian puzzled as if this were the first math problem he had ever found to stump him.  
          “Well, yeah, it’s not something that really matters here, so…” Danny gave a helpless shrug to his new friend, “I forget.  I forget a lot of stuff.  I’m kind of in my own little world most of the time.”  
          Brian didn’t answer at first, he just kept staring at Dan, a crooked, fond smirk eventually curving his features, “Get dressed so we can go for that walk.”  
  
          As Brian did the last time he was in the town, he cleaved fiercely to Dan’s side.  As much as Dan wanted to point out that this constant being on edge wasn’t good for him, it wasn’t like he could help it.  Just as Dan couldn’t help his OCD that took the joy out of many activities, Brian had been conditioned from his years in the forest.  
          The walk turned out to be short-lived, Dan found himself pulled to a stark stop as the wind blew, “Something wrong?” he asked, watching Brian sniff the air.  
          “I don’t want to go that way.” Brian impressed in a firm voice, turning on his heel to drag Danny in the opposite direction.  
          “Ow!  Hey, hey!  I know I look like him, but I’m not Gumby over here!” Danny stumbled to keep up with the brisk pace.  “What’s the matter?”  
          Dan’s answer came quickly when heard a familiar laugh down the street just as the rounded a corner.  The Brewhouse wasn’t usually open this early, so it only made sense that this was Arin’s time to socialize before work.  In retrospect, this walk wasn’t likely a good idea, but there were only _so many_ things you could do in a small town before you just had to admit defeat.  Even if admitting defeat was going for a five mile walk to kill time, because television was mind-numbingly boring, and you could only jerk it so many times before it started to hurt.  
          “Look, how about a walk in the forest?” Dan nudged him once they were more than out of earshot of Arin.  “Less scary and I can actually not get lost for once.”  While Danny had thought it to be a perfect compromise, the frown on Brian’s face didn’t fade.  
          “You’ve already come into the forest so many times, Dan.  I need to get used to humans again anyway.  I think this is fine.”  
          Dan nodded, letting out a light sigh, “Well, if it’s really getting used to humans again you want, then maybe we should go somewhere to _talk_ with other humans.”  Dan fumbled for a second before supplying “Like the community center!  There’s gotta be something going on there!”  
          Going along with Danny, Brian closed his eyes, leaning his cheek into his companion’s shoulder, “I used to do classes at the community center.”  
          “Oh?  What did you teach?” Dan asked, turning down another street.  
          “Acting.” Brian shrugged, “It often amounted to us playing acting games for two hours.”  Danny laughed while they stepped up to the doors and slipped inside.  He watched Brian’s shoulders relax once more and as he sniffed the air, “No one’s here.”  
          “Agh, sorry today isn’t going as well as we would’ve hoped…” People did say that interesting people were never bored because they came up with their own entertainment, but…  Either Danny wasn’t very interesting or this small town was just sucking the life out of him.  He personally found Brian to be the most interesting person he had met in a very long time, but if he was not so captivated with Danny, keeping him entertained might prove a problem.  
          “No, it’s fine.”  Brian gave his hand a squeeze, “I came out to see you, not someone else.”  
          So, what did the two do from there?  They resumed their walk.  Noon came and went, and still they explored.  There was almost no building in the town that Brian didn’t have a story for.  Many of the stories seemed to bring back almost painful memories, but Brian pressed on.  Arin and Brian played music together on top of the grocery store; Terrence had rolled his ankle outside of the pharmacy a few blocks from that, needing Brian to carry his “whiney ass” home.  
          The railcar museum turned out to be open, but they both shied away from it, somehow their walk seemed more entertaining than the history of rail transit.  They continued on, joking and talking, at one point, Brian felt comfortable enough to leave Danny’s hand, though he kept his jaw clenched tight.  
  
          “How long do you think it will take you to get all of your stuff back in order?” Danny asked, sleepily lazing in the grass by the forest, Brian at his side.  
          “I don’t know, a week?  Two?  My driver’s license is still valid, so that saves me a lot of time.” Brian shifted onto his side to look at him, “Either way, if you want to buy us the train tickets just to get out of here, I can hit you back once I have my funds back.”  
          “Sounds like a plan.” Danny sat up with a grin to clasp Brian’s hand tightly.  



	9. 9

          The following week and a half passed as smoothly as either Brian or Danny could have hoped.  Danny felt like he was walking on eggshells around the townsfolk, especially to side-step Arin for the time being, and this made it pass agonizingly slow.  Asking for the time off went well, but when questions came up of why he was going to Toronto for a few days, he didn’t know what to say.  Maybe he could benefit from a few improv classes from Brian just to improve his making things up on the spot, but the story he provided his boss must have been satisfactory.   
          Brian, meanwhile, rarely went anywhere in town without Danny at his side.  He came in during Dan’s lunch breaks to get his paperwork in order and just as quickly resumed his wolf shape and fled the town.  The two being seen with each other, understandably spawned rumors, which ran the gamut of not far from the truth to outlandish.  Some said Danny was civilizing Brian, others thought they were lovers, and others thought that Danny was  _ also _ a werewolf…  He didn’t know if Arin had tossed his hand into the ring of rumors, but he also didn’t seem to be saying much.  Since that Sunday morning, Danny received no phone calls from him and as Danny hadn’t resumed visiting the Brewhouse, Arin must have taken his tone that morning too harshly.   
          “I need to apologize to him.” Danny murmured to Brian, sitting at the train station with him on a Monday.  Amazing how in just a week’s time he could manage to ruin what little of a social life he had.  Sure, there was Brian, but he felt like an ass to just about everyone else.  Then again…  He’d done it before.   
          “Mmn, probably.” Brian spooned another bite of ice cream into his face.  Much to Danny’s surprise, Brian had quite the sweet tooth.  When the sweetest thing he had to eat in the wild was whatever underripe, sour berries he could find, ice cream seemed like a gift from heaven.  “He’s a big boy, I doubt it’s bothering him as much as you think.”  Another bite of ice cream, “The thought would be nice though.”   
          “When we get back.” Danny smiled across the bench him.   
          “When we get back.” Brian agreed, tossing the cup that previously held his ice cream into the can.  All things considered, Brian was adjusting well.  Of course, he still spent more time in the forest with his wolves than with his human associates in the town, but he was much more at ease than he had been a week ago.  This trip to Toronto would prove to be a real test for him…  There wasn’t going to be much of a forest to retreat to when humans overwhelmed him.   
          Behind them both, they heard the train enter the station, “Well, time to go.” Danny stood, shouldering his backpack.  He waited patiently for Brian to do the same and they both boarded the train, ready for the  _ long _ trip to Cochrane and the bus rides down to Toronto.  At first, it took Brian awhile to settle in.  Dan watched him wring his hands, pace and walk from one side of the empty train car to another to peer out the windows.  It reminded Danny of his parents’ dog when something was going on outside.  He chose to decline commenting, not wanting to make Brian any more uncomfortable than leaving the dense and isolated forests of Moosonee already did.   
          Eventually, as the train stopped at tiny towns on the way, the car they were in filled up with people.  Brian could no longer just pace and worry himself to death with their travels.  So, Danny convinced him to settle in next to him, “Hey, let’s get your mind off the train, okay?”   
          They entertained themselves with books, they entertained each other and they napped together.  Their bodies nested together in warm bliss while the miles disappeared behind them.  Brian in particular wrapped his body around Danny as if protecting him from everyone else on the train.  At one point near sunset, Danny’s eyes cracked open against the soft fabric of a faded Hawaiian print.  Brian was  _ snoring  _ loud enough to wake the dead.  Grumbling under his breath, Dan sat up straight to observe the man, open-mouthed and loud as all hell.  Other travelers on the train gave the pair looks, but there was nothing Dan could really  _ do _ about it.  Who was he to deny Brian the release of sleep during a stressful journey just because he was loud?   
_           Note to self _ , Danny thought as he picked up his phone to leave himself a memo,  _ buy ear plugs _ .   
***   
          Grumpy and exhausted, the two men stood in the lobby of their hotel at some ungodly time of the morning.  During their trek to the hotel from their station in Toronto, Danny had picked up a few packs of earplugs--which had proved harder to find than he had been expecting.  He also had never seen Brian so tense before.  Looking back to his reaction in Moosonee, it didn’t seem so bad anymore.   
          Stepping into the city from the subway, Brian’s face strained against the smells of the city and the hustle even at this early hour.  His taut body and clenched jaw made him shake and he squeezed his eyes shut as Danny guided him gently through the city streets.  Dan was damn near sure that his blue fingers were going to fall off.   
          “It’s  _ loud _ ,” Brian groused, “it  _ smells _ awful.” he raised his free hand that wasn’t nearly breaking Danny’s hand to his face.  “This might have been a bad idea.”   
          “Shh, Brian, you just need time to get used to it.  Let’s get to the hotel and get to bed, okay?”   
          So, in the lobby they stood, waiting to check-in.  Once that had been taken care of, however, they both stripped out of their uncomfortable travel clothes and collapsed into bed.  It had been significantly less expensive to just book a room with a single king-size bed rather than two queens, so they both laid under the covers together.  Dan felt Brian’s radiant body heat even from the other side of the bed and found it rather soothing.   
          Rolling onto his side to face Brian’s back, Danny stared into the dark, curving shape that was his friend.  Thinking back to their close contact on the train, Dan wondered if it had only happened because Brian hadn’t had any other choice.  Though he knew Brian found him attractive in some way or another, he doubted they were really heading anywhere other than a strong friendship.  As much as he wished for something closer, he decided that he was okay with that.  Smiling to himself in the dark, Danny closed his eyes, settling further into the soft hotel bed.  He couldn’t wait until morning, he’d never really been to Toronto before other than to catch a train after all…   
  
          With his earplugs firmly in place, Danny had no problems sleeping through the night.  Sure, Brian might have sounded like someone furiously trying to escape a safe with a chainsaw, but these were  _ amazing _ earplugs.  Midday was already rolling around by the time he roused, and to be honest, he only moved because he felt a hand nudge him.   
          “Mmn?” Dan babbled something incomprehensible, prying his eyes open to the offensive light coming in through the drawn curtains.  “What?” He finally managed to make his tongue work, looking up to Brian who aptly had a banana hanging out of his mouth.   
          “Breakfast is served, sleepy-head.” Brian informed after breaking off the piece in his mouth and chewing it.  “You were just going to sleep through it.”   
          “Yeah, I do that all the time.” Danny sat up, looking at the selection of foods before him, potatoes, eggs, a waffle with chocolate chips, a banana, a carton of orange juice…  There was  _ no way _ he was going to be eating all of this.   
          “Breakfast  _ is _ the most important meal of the day.” Brian pointed out, sitting back down on “his” side of the bed.   
          “Thanks, dad.” Dan giggled, picking up the plate with the chocolate chip waffle on it, “You didn’t have to bring me this… I could’ve just bought lunch.”   
          “Why waste free food?  I’ve lived without currency for awhile now, it’s the best thing ever.”   
          “You do have a point.” Dan conceded, cutting into the waffle with the provided plastic fork and knife.  “Thank you.”   
          “No problem.” Brian assured him, sipping what must’ve been coffee from a styrofoam cup.   
          “I’m going to guess that you’ve not had coffee in a few years, then.” Danny raised an eyebrow at the dark liquid in Brian’s hands, “Go light on that stuff.”   
          “Oh, god, I know.” Brian nodded, “I can already feel my heart pounding.”   
          The two ate in companionable quiet.  Occasionally there was a comment made about the food, or Brian had some snide idea or another to share, but they were both more focused on food.  When their collection of foods had dwindled considerably, Dan asked “Was there anything special you wanted to do today?  I’ve never been to Toronto, so… I kind of don’t know anything around here.  Except the train station.” He laughed.   
          “No… Nothing  _ really _ important, but, I found out from some old friends that they have a show tonight.” Brian posed, “They’re an interesting bunch, and I’m eager to see how their music has evolved since I dropped off the map.”   
          “Oh?” Danny settled back on the bed, still only in his boxers and entirely at ease next to the elder man, “How did they take your sudden being back?”   
          “They were happy, of course.  One of them is  _ sort _ of like me, so he at least understood.” Brian settled in as well as he explained.   
          “A  _ sort of _ werewolf?” Dan laughed, “Aren’t those called furries?”   
          Unable to help himself, Brian laughed in kind, “I guess, but no.  He’s an ailuranthrope.”   
          “Uh… A what?”   
          “A werecat.  They’re kind of like werewolves, except the whole moon thing doesn’t exist.” Brian rolled his eyes.   
          Dan nodded, but, he didn’t really care  _ that _ much as he didn’t know this person, so he moved on “So, they have a show tonight?  What kind of music do they play?”   
          “Well, they  _ were _ dance music around the time I left.  I’m going to assume that their genre hasn’t changed all that much.”  Brian made a face to show off just how clueless he was on the matter, but moved on swiftly “The show isn’t until eight tonight, and it’s across town on Queen East, so we have a long while to just do whatever.”   
          Dan shrugged, “I’m up for whatever.  Let’s be tourists.” He giggled, pushing himself up out of bed.  As he went to the bathroom to get ready for the day though, he remained oblivious to the way Brian’s eyes hungrily followed his movements.   
          “Let’s get moving, then.” Brian pushed himself to his feet, busying his hands with other work while Danny dressed.   
  
          Toronto was big.   _ Really _ big.  Dan had grown up in the shadow of NYC all his life, so it didn’t surprise him in the least, but Brian was having more trouble adjusting than he had in the night.  Busy as the city had still been under the cover of night, it was nothing compared to the day.  Crowds of people walking down streets, stopping in to shops like dispensaries, grocery stores and tourist traps left and right.  Dan kept a close watch on Brian’s face all the while, keeping their fingers nested together.   
          “Wow, I’ve not had Tim Horton’s in forever…”  Brian commented as they passed what must’ve been the sixth or seventh one of the day.  Dan looked up a the big, red, friendly letters and shrugged, he said “I’m not very hungry, but I could go for a donut.”   
          “You know how much I’ve missed sweets.” Brian chuckled, his grip on Danny’s had hand loosened in the past hour, but Dan didn’t want to push the envelope with Brian.  Cities were loud, cities were busy, definitely  _ not _ in the same ways that forests were.  “Let’s go in.”  Brian tugged Danny along inside, and, Danny could tell, if Brian had his ears and tail visible, they would’ve been perked and his tail going a mile a minute.   
          “Yes, I know how much you’ve missed them.  My pantry knows better than me, but, that’s fine.” Dan laughed as the two of them got to the counter.  With coffee firmly off Brian’s menu for the rest of the day, Danny gaped as Brian ordered a half dozen donuts for himself.  That didn’t seem healthy.   _ But _ , Danny reminded himself internally,  _ he has been on a literal raw food diet for awhile now… _ __   
          “Are you getting anything?” Brian peered over his shoulder, pulling out his wallet to finger through the multi-colored notes inside.   
          “Just a honey cruller and I’m good.”   
          “Suit yourself.” Brian said with a grin, adding Danny’s fluffy, eggy-delight donut to his order.  From the moment Brian had the bag of donuts in his hands, his mouth was full.  First a glazed, then a chocolate-glazed, then a maple-glazed--his craving for sugar was a  _ serious _ one.  In the time it took Brian to finish four donuts, Dan had only managed his one.  Wasn’t your craving for sugar supposed to go down with age?  Not that Danny had bothered asking how old Brian was, or even when his birthday was, but still…  He got the distinct feeling that Brian was much older than him.   
          “Slow down, you’re going to make yourself sick…” Danny chastised with a frown, “There’s only so much sugar you can take--especially after you ate that whole pint of ice cream before we left.”   
          “Dan, I’ve not had sugar in a long time, let me enjoy myself.” Brian waved him off, cramming a longjohn into his voracious mouth.   
          “Okay, I see your point, but there is such a thing as  _ too much _ of a good thing.” Danny cautioned, still concerned nonetheless.  Seeming to yield to Danny’s worried tone, Brian saved his last two donuts for later.  This left the two to continue to wander about Toronto for another few hours.   
          They stopped into tattoo shops to look at artwork--though there were plenty of art galleries to do the same at--and stared at a few big tourist attractions.  Overall, Danny didn’t think the city much more interesting than New York, until he pulled up some interesting facts about the city on his phone, “Did you know that a third of Canada’s population lives here?”   
          “No, I didn’t but I’m not surprised.  You’ve not seen all that much of Canada.  Just Ontario.”  Brian shrugged, on his fifth donut.   
          “I guess I’m just used to more space being taken up by people…” Danny supposed, watching a trolley slide by on its rails.  Eventually, they would have to board one of those to get across town, but for now, it was just interesting enough to watch them go back and forth.   
          Once they rose from their spots to continue walking, the noise of rush hour was not far off.  It was just their luck that the two were passing through a particularly busy section of town as the full force of the hour came upon them.  While Danny found it somehow quieter than the rush hours of Boston or NYC, Brian wasn’t doing quite as well…  He saw the way his pupils constricted, his jaw clenched and he looked every which way for an escape from the crush of humanity and the honking of horns.   
          “Brian…”  Danny cleared his voice and the frantic look from his companion took him aback.  Brian bared his sharp, white teeth and Danny wondered if this was more serious than he was giving it credit for, “Do we need to take a moment to breathe?” He asked, trying to keep his voice as even as possible.   
          “Rrrrg…” Brian answered, his lips falling back over his frightening teeth.   
          “Is…  Is that a yes?” Danny nodded his head as if to give Brian an example to follow.  Seeing his plan work, Brian nodded back to him.  “Here, just… Close your eyes and follow me, okay?”   
          The muscles in his jaw still tense, Brian closed his eyes, pulling as close to Danny as he could.  This amounted in the hand that  _ had _ been in Danny’s wrapping around the thinner man’s waist and his left hand finding itself in Danny’s grasp.  Feeling a bit more like he was being pushed along rather than leading, Danny took Brian out of the street and into a nearby park.  He saw youths not far off playing on a basketball court and he hoped they weren’t too loud for Brian’s taste.   
          “Okay, sit.” Danny suggested as the pair came to a bench, separated from the street by a line of bushes and trees.  There the two sat in silence for a solid thirty minutes.  Danny knew that overstimulation was a thing among humans as well, but he hadn’t imagined it taking quite so long to wear off as Brian’s condition was taking.  After what felt like an eternity, Danny heard in a small voice “Pet me.”   
          “Excuse me?”  Surely he hadn’t heard that, Brian must’ve been saying something else.  So, leaning in, Danny put his ear by Brian’s mouth “What did you say?”   
          “Pet. Me.” Brian forced out, a primal growl roughening the edges of his words.   
          “Um… Like… Like this?” Danny questioned, lifting a hand to Brian’s greying hair and stroking through it to his back.  “Is this okay?”   
          Brian’s answer wasn’t verbal, rather a nod.  Danny’s fingers laced into Brian’s hair, petting up and down the grey and brown follicles with great care.  As time passed, Brian made all manner of noises from what sounded like a pleasured moan to a content purr.  Dan wasn’t all that sure what to make of the sounds, and so he didn’t ask.  There were more things in heaven and earth than Dan could dream of, and so he figured it to be a werewolf’s business.   
          Brian moved to bump his face against Danny’s, nuzzling into his neck.  Brian’s whiskers tickled Danny’s cheek and his neck, making him giggle, but he kept it low and to himself.  This was far cuter than Danny had previously thought as he felt Brian take a deep inhale of breath through his nose.   
          “Feeling better?” Dan asked, still running his hand up and down his body.  His answer came as a minute nod against his flesh, making Danny smile, “I’m glad to hear it.”   
          “I’m sorry.” Brian apologized in a small voice once he pulled away from Danny’s person.  “I didn’t think that this would happen here.”   
          “This is a  _ much _ bigger place than Moosonee.” Danny attempted to comfort, but Brian shook his head.   
          “I should’ve known what I was getting into…  Everything in my body is telling me that this place is wrong.  There’s nowhere to hide, there’s so many  _ people _ and it’s loud.”  Brian sat back on the bench the two occupied, his hand remaining in Danny’s grasp.  He sniffed the air and sighed, “And there are  _ many  _ creatures I don’t recognize the scents of.”   
          “Uh… Really?  Like what?” Dan asked, looking around at all the people who all seemed so normal.  Or, seemed human rather…  Just because someone wasn’t human didn’t mean they weren’t normal.   
          “If I knew what their smells meant, Danny, I wouldn’t be so distressed about it.” Brian pointed out with just a hint of humor in his voice.  “So far I’ve scented a handful of other wolves, a witch and a fairy.  Many other things that I don’t recognize…”   
          “A fairy?” Dan squinted as if expecting to see a small, glowing Navi about.   
          Brian just chuckled, “The Fair Folk look more human than you give them credit for.  When you humans are dominant species on the planet, the lot of us need effective methods of hiding.”   
          “I guess you’re right…  As a species we can’t even get past people having different skin tones.   _ Imagine _ how we’d all go berserk to learn that some people have wings or tails?”   
          “My point exactly.” Brian laughed, nuzzling back into Dan’s neck. “I’m glad you have such a healthy humor about it.”   
          “Ah, not being able to laugh at the ways we’re all stupid would make life so boring.” Danny admitted, “Are you feeling well enough to continue walking?”   
          “A few more minutes…  I…  I wouldn’t mind a few more pets either.” Brian’s voice held a feeling Danny had yet to hear from him thus far.  Was Brian  _ embarrassed _ ?  That didn’t seem something that Brian was capable of after all the stories Danny had heard and his fairly limited time in his presence.  Still, while Brian enjoyed prodding Danny’s weak points in the name of good, old-fashioned fun, it wasn’t in Danny’s nature to do the same.  This was no petty request either.   
          “Okay, this still good?”  Dan raised his hand to stroke over Brian’s greying hair again, going with the flow of his hair down his back.   
          “Exactly like that.”  Brian confirmed, nodding and letting his eyes close again.  Quiet settled between them comfortable and snug.  All things must come to an end, however, and Brian mumbled “Thank you…”   
          “No problem.”  Danny smiled, continuing to pet the man-wolf gently.  “Time to go for a walk? I’ll give you a treat.”   
          Brian snorted, standing up, “I’ll get you back for every single dog joke you make, I hope you know.”   
          “I’d expect nothing else, my man.”  Giggling, Danny followed him to his feet, squeezing his hand.  The two resuming their walk, now that the “honk” and “vroom” of rush hour had given way to just the normal roar of car and foot traffic, they “oohed” and “ahhed” like the tourists they were.  Checking the time, Danny nudged Brian’s side “Want to get some food before we go to that show tonight?”   
          “Sure, anything you had in mind?”  Brian ate the last of his donuts.   
          “Not… Really…”  Danny hummed, “Well, what’s a kind of food you miss?”   
          “Honestly?” Brian looked to the crumpled donut bag as he chewed and swallowed, “Poutine.”   
          Danny, never having had poutine in his life, shouted “Yes!”  And fist-pumped into the air.   
          “Lucky for you, the restaurant adjoining the venue has great poutine.” Brian grinned, taking Danny’s hand to drag him across the street to the nearest eastbound trolley.  Probably nowhere in America could you honestly jaywalk on a busy street and not  _ one _ person either honk or threaten bodily harm.  It was just  __ astounding  to him.


	10. 10

          All at once, standing in line for the venue, sloppy, delicious serving of steaming-hot poutine in his hand, Danny felt like a teenager again.  The adrenaline of waiting for the doors to open and having to slog down all his food as fast as possible.  He knew all the cheese and greasy gravy were going to not bode well for his stomach later, but fuck that, because it tasted amazing.   
          “What did you say the band was called?”  Danny asked, licking a spot of gravy off his thumb.   
          Brian smirked, a glimmer in his eye “Tupperware Remix Party.”   
          “Excuse me?”

          “Yep.”   
          “You’re serious?”   
          “Yeah, they’re idiots.” Brian chuckled.   
          “What kind of music did you  _ say _ they played?”   
          “The good kind.”   
          “One of these days, I’m going to slap you.” Danny sighed, tossing his empty container into the nearest garbage can.   
          “I’m waiting for it.” Brian grinned, looking up as the will-call door finally opened.  With people hastily, yet still with typical politeness, filed inside, Brian brought Dan up to the counter.   
          “Did you buy these earlier?” Danny questioned, seeing Brian shake his head.   
          “Pfft,  _ no _ .  They offered.”   
          “Oh, so, are we, like, special guests then?”  Danny  _ really _ just wanted to enjoy the concert.  As much as he knew he’d  _ probably _ like Brian’s friends, he more wanted the real experience here.   
          “Nope, just going to see it.” Brian waved the tickets in front of Danny’s face and took them both to get scanned.  Once in the venue, Danny’s eyes scanned over the merch table.  The blonde, extremely over-worked man behind the counter greeted them with a grin and a wave, but was otherwise engaged with selling the wares available.  The various shirts and posters of  _ odd _ robot-looking characters and what appeared to be a furry of some sort threw him for a loop.   
          “What am I looking at?” Danny asked, raising his scarred eyebrow to Brian.   
          “Awesomeness, that’s all you need to know.”  Brian clapped him on the back and took his hand, leading him down the short flight of steps onto the GA floor.   
          “I’ll take your word for it.”   
          “You won’t just have to take my word for it when they come out.  Judging from the music you like, I’d say you’ll like them too.”  Brian knocked an elbow against the raised stage, a collection of musical equipment and technology furnishing it.  Both men stood and chatted quietly, eventually having to raise their voices as the venue filled with fans.  People of all shapes and sizes seemed to enjoy this “Tupperware Remix Party’s” music.  Considering the band’s name was a bit of a mouthful, Danny resolved to refer to them exclusively as “TWRP”.   
          When the opening act stepped out onto the stage, the crowd went wild as if TWRP themselves had arrived.  It almost convinced Danny that it was them, except these people looked rather normal.  They didn’t look like they’d stepped straight out of  _ Judge Dredd _ or an eighties science fiction novel.  Eighties did seem to be a theme, however, spandex, leg-warmers and all; Danny couldn’t say that he didn’t admire their style.  Raising his arms, he cheered along with everyone else, Brian watching with a glow in his eyes.   
          Swinging his hips, Danny danced to the beat, running his fingers through his hair and a grand smile on his face.  He loved this feeling, the connection with all the other people around him as his body moved in time with theirs.  The time for being touchy about personal space was over and he was loving the sense of community that came to him in these tight spaces filled with splendid music.  He shouted with the crowd, weaving back and forth as everyone got into the music.   
          “Wow!  Who,  _ are _ these guys?!” Danny called over his shoulder to Brian who had done little more than fold his arms over his chest and watch with a grin.  With Danny’s question, Brian shrugged and grinned wider as he said, “I dunno, probably just a small-time local band.”   
          “Woo!” Danny got back to enjoying the opener, as far as “small-time” acts went, he was damn impressed.  It wasn’t often that he was sad to see an opener leave stage, but they had real talent and Danny found himself wishing for their success.  As a musical man himself, he understood the struggles of finding recognition, even the talented had trouble.   
          As the lull of the space between acts fell over the crowd, Danny turned to face Brian, “Well, if  _ that _ was just the opener, I’m sure the big act is going to be  _ amazing _ .” he giggled, stepping against Brian.   
          Leaning over to hear his friend over the roar of a room full of people talking and the house music, Brian spoke “If they’re anything like they were two years ago, they really are.”   
          “Do you have a favorite song?” Danny nudged, flicking his eyes up to the men tracking across the stage to move equipment.   
          “Of their old stuff?  I liked the ‘No Pants Dance’.” Brian laughed as Danny’s eyebrows shot up.   
          “That’s  _ my _ kind of dance!” He giggled, giving Brian another playful push.   
          “Mine too.” The werewolf gave him a shove in kind, a moment passing between them as a ginger technician stepped onto the stage to play with a laptop.  Danny swallowed and Brian reached up to give his cheek a few friendly taps.   
          A few other technicians came to the stage to test the main synth and the drums, but the crew left swiftly once their sound tests were done.  Danny bit his lip, but didn’t dare say as he felt.  That was a can of worms he didn’t need to open.  Brian was fine as a friend and he was fairly certain that Brian thought the same.  As they stood during their momentary impasse, Brian took his hand and the crowd cheered with the room going dark.   
_           Are they cheering for us? _  Danny thought in a moment of confusion.  He broke eye-contact with Brian to glance over his shoulder to the red, pulsing light onstage.  The show must’ve been starting.  Looking back to Brian, Danny ran his tongue over his lips, allowing himself an uncertain smile as Brian smirked and turned him round to look at the stage.   
          All at once, three men entered the stage, each in a costume more ridiculous than the last.  To the far stage left, stood a man in some bronze space helmet, body hidden from view by a red morphsuit.  Behind the drums was a rather hostile-looking black and grey robot and to the stage right…  A fucking furry.  Dan was unable to hold back his laughter at the sheer absurdity he was watching, the lion-furry--whom Danny suspected to be the werecat hiding in plain sight--began to pluck at his bass, a funky beat filling the room.  The robot joined in and so did the red spaceman.  To complete the set, the final member trotted out onstage, a goofy, glowing grin plastered on what little of his face Danny could see.   
          “Oh my god, is that a traffic cone on his head?” Danny gesticulated wildly at the display before him.   
          “It used to actually be!  It’s a helmet now.” Brian shouted over the screaming crowd of people and the beginning overture.  Dazzled, Danny watched the spectacle unfold as the traffic cone man began enthusiastically dancing.  Everything about his dance moves might have screamed “white boy” but he had real talent for moving his body.  It was positively  _ infectious _ , Danny working to wiggle and dance his body in time with the music.  All too quickly it felt, the song ended and Traffic Cone stepped up to the mic.   
          “How’s everybody doing tonight?” The charismatic pylon asked the crowd--to a riotous answer of excited screams.  “Good!  Well, I imagine, looking up at us,” Traffic Cone looked to his morph-suited buddies before continuing, “that you, probably, have a lot of questions.”   
          “Trust me, the looks on all your faces are  _ priceless _ .”  The Lion cut in with a couple of chuckles, getting a return investment in the form of laughs from the rest of the audience.   
          “Yep.”  Danny called up to the stage,  _ he _ always felt better when he got a bigger audience response during a performance.   
          “Well, we are Tupperware Remix Party; I am Doctor Sung, and these are my best friends!  Lord Phobos,” Sung motioned to the red spaceman, a  _ rad _ guitar riff bursting forth from him “Commander Meouch,” on cue, the Lion played a funky few notes on his bass, “and in the back is Havve.”  Danny expected a fast solo from the robot, but only got a couple taps on the bass drum.  “And this is a song  _ about _ best friends!”   
          As their song began--Dr. Sung first instructing the audience how to sing along--Danny watched in wonder as the bright, gaiety of eighties nonsense played out across the stage.  He had no  _ earthly _ idea what he was looking at, but it was  _ fun _ .  He shouted with everyone else as the cues were given, settling back into a firm grip around his waist.  As the song ended and seamlessly became the next song, Danny turned back to look at Brian.  His body was moving too, in perfect tandem with his.   
          “ _ Last night, at the TWRP show, I saw you movin’ up in the front row… _ ”  Danny heard Sung singing behind him to the crowd of excited fans that recognized the lyrics.  His breath caught in his throat and he twisted the rest of his body in Brian’s arms to press their fronts together.  Feeling his heart speed up and practically jump into his throat, they began to dance.   
          Danny’s body ground up against Brian’s front, a joyous grin on his face while a wicked one curved Brian’s.  Everything beyond each other and the music was unimportant, all that mattered was the way they fit together and the burning heat between their bodies.  This couldn’t be real…   
          “ _... ‘cause I am  _ **_crushin_ ** _ ’!  Crushin’ on you! _ ”   
          Brian brought their bodies as close together as physically possible without entering inside of him.  His heavy, hot hands firm on the curve of Danny’s back.  To Dan’s surprise, he found something  _ else _ between the two of them besides mere tension.  That’s all it took for Danny to wrap his arms around Brian, setting their foreheads together, eyes locked in stare.   
          “ _ I can’t control how you make me feel, that’s why days, weeks, months, years later I’ll be…” _ __   
          “Whoa!” Danny whooped as Brian took the man by his hips and about faced him towards the stage once more.  Both men sang along with the song’s last refrain, cheering and shouting as the song came to an end and the band’s only two talkers began again.   
          “We’re a band from, the  _ eighties _ ,” Sung explained, “The  _ future _ …  And space!” Man, this guy might as well have come out of his mother grinning because that was all he ever did.  Not that Danny would ever complain, he made it look  _ great _ .  Fussing around with some of his effects first, the rest of the band jumped right into the next song, Danny and Brian going right back into their own universe.  Everything else was inconsequential when their eyes met.   
          The concert was a blur of color, lights and sounds and movement.  What was so usually a communal experience between a whole crowd of people became a private event in Danny’s mind.  This moment was  _ his _ and Brian’s.  It belonged to them as Sung entertained them with the electronic droning of his vocoded lyrics.   
          “ _ You’re too good to be true, good to be true, good to be true! _ _ Don’t you be a fool, be a fool, be a fool.  Won’t you make a move? _ ”   
          Danny bit his lip as he turned in Brian’s arms once more, grinding their hips together, he waited for Brian to either pull away or lean into it.  To his satisfaction, he felt the hot protrusion between Brian’s legs grind against his thigh.   
          “ _... You are so fine, are so fine, are so fine. _ ”   
          He closed his eyes against the new pleasure coming to his body as Brian’s thigh imposed itself between his.  Unable to believe that this was happening, Danny steeled his nerves.   
          “ _ I’ve made up my mind, made up my mind, made up my mind, _ ”   
          He couldn’t just let things stay like this.  He needed to make sure Brian knew exactly how he felt.   
          “ _ I’m makin’ a move _ !”   
          Bending low over him to hint as his desires, Danny opened his eyes and waited for Brian’s response.  Their eyes caught each other in a tense moment, Brian’s lips curving into a smirk.   
          “ _ I know you are a bad girl, _ ”   
          Either because Brian hadn’t noticed the dip in Danny’s altitude, or he didn’t want to take the bait, Brian didn’t react.  He just kept smirking up at him, swinging their bodies together, back and forth.  Beginning to grow impatient for some kind of definite answer, Danny frowned and stood up straight.  Whatever he was feeling, it was clear to him that Brian didn’t want things to escalate beyond their harmless fun.   
          “ _ You bring joy to my sad world.  Just let me love you like I should! _ ”   
          Brian pulled at Danny’s T-shirt, dragging him to his level to shove their lips together, “Mmmm.”  They both clutched to each other’s shoulders, desperate for contact, for skin.  Brian opened his mouth wider, catching Danny’s lips in his sharp teeth, making sure he couldn’t escape until he was ready.  Pulling away for just long enough to take in another breath, they dove back in.   
          “Fuck, Brian.” Danny gasped against his lips, the half chub in his pants becoming a full erection needing attention. “Please, please.”   
          “I’m sure they won’t mind if we cut out early.” Brian suggested, his forceful fingers raking down Danny’s back. “I can see them another time.”  Danny felt him grip at the belt over his hips, tugging with great insistence.  He had never seen such a look in Brian’s eyes, even as a wolf, such bold-faced hunger never overrode the intelligent glint in his eyes.   
          Disjointed and aroused, Dan was able to do little more than nod, “Y-Yeah.”   
          “Let’s go.” Brian growled, hauling Danny by his belt off the GA floor and out the door onto Queen street.  Outside, in front of god and everyone, Brian shoved Danny against the wall of the Opera House’s marquee, their mouths melding together.  Even in the heat of their passions, they remained relatively appropriate for public--if intense face-sucking was acceptable.   
          “Come on, come on!” Danny patted Brian’s shoulders with gusto, trying to bring him back into the task they had at hand, “Hotel!”   
          “Grrrr,” Brian gritted his teeth, showing off the fangs shoving their way into his mouth.  Danny swallowed, not  _ afraid _ , but unsure of the harshness on his friend’s face. “Trolley.”  He took Dan’s hand and squeezed it, leading him quickly down and across the street to the nearest stop.  Once hopping onto the tram though…  It was a lot of pretending to be normal.  Dan drummed his fingers, face red from his evident bulge in his pants, Brian steepled his fingers, near glaring holes in the back of the seat in front of him.   
          “Um…  Are you okay?” Dan lifted a hand to lay it on Brian’s thigh.  He jumped and nearly removed his hand when Brian’s intense eyes flicked to him.   
          “Never better.” Brian put his hand over Danny’s giving it a gentle squeeze, “Could  _ still _ be better.” He sighed in a dark voice into Danny’s ear.   
          Shivering, Danny let out a nervous giggle, “Do you just practice that voice?”   
          “What voice?” Brian prodded, his lips against the curves of Danny’s ear.  He could smell the arousal pouring off Dan, but he also smelled something else--was it fear?  Anxiety?  “I should be asking you if  _ you’re _ all right.”   
          “No, I’m fine, just…  Excited.” Danny giggled more, another chill running down his spine as Brian’s tongue momentarily peeked out to lick over the soft tissue of his ear.   
          “Good.” Brian’s lips pecked Danny’s ear and the two continued through the dark streets of Toronto towards their hotel.   
  
          Arriving back at the hotel room was a flurry of activity.  Brian growled with frustration as Danny fumbled with the door key, and damn near shoved Danny inside the moment the lock clicked.  Stumbling over the open dufflebag on the floor, Danny yelped as he fell back to the bed.  As fast as he could, he threw his leather jacket off and Brian unbuckled the offending clothing article from around Dan’s waist.  With belt and pants successfully thrown into the ether, they next scrambled to get Brian naked.   
          Danny’s eager, yet uncoordinated hands futzed with the buttons of the Hawaiian dad shirt in front of him, but after a particularly forceful growl, Brian just ripped the garment off.  With buttons flying in every direction, Brian shrugged the ruined shirt from his body to the floor.   
          “Mmn, I want inside you.” Brian rumbled, nipping at Dan’s shoulder and grinding their hips together.   
          “I-I, yes.”  Words were hard for Dan, “Yes, please.”   
          Brian sighed reaching between them to grip Danny’s eager cock, his own fat length already beading precum.   
          “D-Dude?” Dan looked between them, moaning with abandon as he finally felt Brian’s hand close around him.  His dismay was not at the contact, but rather…  “What’s up with your dick?”   
          “I’m a werewolf. What were you expecting?” Brian grunted, grinding the bulge at the base of his dick against Dan’s hip.   
          “Shit, I don’t know, I never thought I’d be having sex with a werewolf before!” Dan answered, laughing, “Do all werewolf peens look like yours?”   
          “No.” Brian answered, quite seriously, “I just really want you.” He shoved their lips back together, the engorged, red skin of his knotted cock sliding over Danny’s hot skin.   
          “O-Oh, I’m glad I bring that out in you?”  Dan rested his head back, his spine arching with pleasure as Brian rolled his thumb over the head of his prick.   
          “Yeah, consider it a compliment.” Brian grunted again, bucking his body more against Dan’s.   
          “Fuck!  Please fuck me, come on, Brian.  I want you in me now.” Danny huffed, curling his fingers into Brian’s back.   
          “Hell yeah--do you have a condom?”  With such a simple and necessary question, the moment came to a screeching halt and a crash.   
          “No…” Danny sheepishly answered.   
          “Shit…”  Brian’s brows turned down in deep thought, “Fuck it.”   
          “Fuck it?”  Hadn’t Brian said that lycanthropy was sexually transmitted?   
          “Come here.”  Manhandling Dan, the two came to lay next to each other on the bed instead of one on top of the other, “We have nothing to worry about if we just do this.” Brian brought their lips back together, wrapping one large, hot hand around both of their members.   
          “Oh!” Danny butted his head forward against Brian’s squirming as he wrapped his arm back around Brian’s shoulder.  His fingers dug into the sweaty, flushed skin, his hips bucking into Brian’s hand and he lost himself for a few moments in the heat of the moment. “Fuck, dude.”   
          “Mmmn,” Brian rumbled, kissing Danny, their lips parting for their tongues to come together.  Twining with one another, their tongues teased and slid between them.  Dan moaned into the kiss, feeling the hot pit in his stomach fill with tension.   
          “Ah-aaah!  Brian.” Dan gasped, trying to warn him seconds before his dick released between them.  The hot seed spattered between their chests and stomachs, leaking between Brian’s fingers before he pulled away.  “No, no, you don’t--”   
          “It’ll hurt if I don’t, Dan.” Brian reminded him with a chuckle, giving him another kiss.  “I’m staying right here.”  It didn’t take Brian long from there to climax, his honey joining Dan’s on their skin.  He continued kissing Dan, slow and leisurely.  “It’s been a very long time for me.”   
          “Mmm?”  Dan was still floating about in a daze.  This had been the last way he had suspected this night to go this morning.  That being said, he wasn’t the least bit disappointed in it.  “C’mere.” He groggily muttered, making sure Brian couldn’t escape the embrace of his arms.   
          “Sleepy?”  Brian assumed, feeling his eyelids try to tug themselves downward.   
          Brian got his answer in short order, Danny was already asleep…  Charming.  All the same, Brian couldn’t bring himself to be angry about it.  For now, he was content to just snuggle and drift off to sleep.   
***   
          When the morning came, Brian was first to wake.  Fondly, he wove his fingers into the fluff of Dan’s hair, observing the calmness on Dan’s expressive face.  The fingers in Dan’s hair, caused him to stir; Dan moved as if to roll away, but the gravity of the prior night must have hit him, because he, instead, opened his eyes.   
          “Morning…” Danny greeted, face-to-face with Brian’s usually stern face.  Reaching into his ears, he plucked out the plugs and sat them on the bedside table.   
          “Good morning.” Brian grinned, removing his fingers from Dan’s hair to settle in closer to him and rest his hand on Dan’s side.  The air between them was pregnant, but thankfully, not awkward.  For the moment, they chose to leave the elephant in the room alone and draped their arms over one another.  Brian nuzzled his face into Dan’s hair and Dan rested his cheek on Brian’s chest.  There was a musk on his skin that Danny couldn’t say was unpleasant.  It reminded him of cedar and soil--he would’ve never suspected the combination to smell as good as it did--and found himself easily drifting off to sleep again.  It was only half-past nine and he had a solid two and a half more hours of prime sleeping time left.   
          Eventually, noon rolled around and Dan finally pried his eyes open against Brian’s chest.  He heard his big heart pounding softly under his fuzzy skin and smiled, “Mmn, okay, I’m awake.”   
          Brian rubbed up and down Danny’s back with a large, warm hand, “Thanks for joining me, Sleeping Beauty.”   
          “Yeah, you’re  _ so _ clever.” Danny snarked back with a smile.   
          “Dan, we need to seriously talk.”   
          Oh, right, Dan sat up from Brian to lean on the headboard of the bed, “I guess so.”   
          “What do you want to…  Well, do about this?”   
          Dan licked his lips, averting his eyes to the white linens of the bed, “I don’t want to say that last night was meaningless, Brian.”   
          “I didn’t say it had to be.”  Brian reached for his friend’s hand.    
          “So…  Okay, then, it meant something to the both of us, but,” Danny looked up from the bed to meet Brian’s uncharacteristically soft eyes. “I don’t want you to feel pressured into something.”   
          “I don’t feel pressured, Dan.” Brian snorted with good humor, “I want something with you, but both of us are kind of…”   
          “Hot messes?” Danny offered, breaking into giggles when Brian laughed along with him.   
          “Yes, I think ‘hot messes’ describes both of us.”  Brian propped his head against the headboard of the bed, not taking his eyes off Danny, “It’s something we can’t ignore.”   
          “I know…” Danny bit his lip, “Do you really think it will get in the way, though?”   
          Brian’s eyes slipped closed as he nodded in answer, “Yes, it does.  It’s all stuff we need to have straightened out if we expect to be functioning adults together.”   
          “Whoa, man, I’m barely a functioning,  _ person _ .” Danny kept giggling, Brian smiling, “I dunno, I guess I’m okay with moving forward.”   
          “Good, so, let’s talk about room for improvement.” Brian logically leaded, “I think that before you or I can really move forward with each other, we need to individually move forward first.”   
          “All right, I’m down, but, what are you asking for?”   
          “You need to go home and talk to your parents.” Brian told him, point blank.   
          “What…” Danny turned whiter, “I mean, I’m not  _ opposed _ , I’m…  They’re so far away from where we live.”   
          “I didn’t say right away, I think you need to start small for now…  Start with a letter.  Work your way up from there.” After a moment of silence passed between them, Brian added “Your visa will expire in the next few months anyway, right?”   
          “Yeah…  It’s only for six months.” Danny pulled his legs up to himself, resting his elbows on his thighs. “To be honest, I’ve not really been thinking about that.”   
          “About your parents or your visa?”   
          “My visa.” Dan let out a single, humorless laugh, “No, I’ve been thinking about my family a lot.  I don’t think a day has gone by that I haven’t thought of Avi or Deb.”   
          Brian nodded in understanding, “Just too scared to send that letter?”   
          “I guess…  What if they don’t  _ want _ me back?  Or are happier without me?” Dan posed, his chest feeling tight.   
          “Dan, they’re your parents.” Brian reminded him, “Right now, probably all they’re thinking about is where they went wrong to drive you away…”   
          “Yeah, I get it, my actions hurt them more than me.” Dan shrugged off with a sigh, moving to leave the bed.  He stopped, however, as Brian took his wrist.   
          “I’m not here to lecture you, Danny…  I just am saying, it’s important for you and them to speak with each other.” Brian gave his hand an encouraging squeeze.  For a tense moment, he stared at Danny’s back, relief flooding over him as Dan went slack and laid back in the bed, his head inches from Brian’s lap.   
          “I’m a fucking mess.” Danny admitted, not on the verge of tears, but his conflict plain on his face.  Brian didn’t say otherwise, but he reached out to stroke Dan’s rough cheek.   
          “I’m here, you don’t have to be a mess by yourself.”   
          Dan let his eyes close, nodding through a sniffle, “Thank you.”  His hand shook in Brian’s grip, allowing his misty eyes to open again after a few moments, “I know you have your own problems, I don’t expect you to take on mine.”   
          “I’m not; you’re going to handle your own problems, but I’ll be here to support you when you need it.” Brian replied honestly.   
          “I appreciate it…” Dan took in a breath and let it back out to steady his nerves, “You need to talk with Arin.”   
          “I know…” Brian frowned.   
          “I’m going to work hard on making amends with my parents…  Please do the same with Arin.”  Danny rolled back onto his side to his belly to get his knees beneath himself.  Reaching out, he touched the scar on Brian’s handsome face, trailing his fingers down from his temple to his pocked cheek, “I’m not saying you have to forgive him…  But he’s been tearing himself up about it for years now.”   
          Brian nodded, an emotion Danny could not name on his face, “I know I need to.”   
          “If not to rekindle a friendship, just for closure…  If not even that, do it for Trina.”  Dan let his hand drop from Brian’s cheek to his shoulder, “She had nothing to do with anything.”   
          “I will.” Brian accepted, “As long as we both work hard to fix these things… I don’t think I could be happier.”   
          “Then… What are we?” Danny sat back from him, “Boyfriends?”   
          “Mm,” Brian thought for a few seconds before answering “yeah, boyfriends.”   
  
          As boyfriends were wont, the two spent as much time in bed together as possible.  Still, the lack of condoms and lube complicated their morning romp, so the actual meat of the action was all business of hands and kissing and moaning.   
          “So, what is this thing?” Danny sighed against Brian’s lips, his hand wrapping around the bulbous knot at the base of his dick.   
          “For mating.” Brian’s voice was shaky and a longer, louder moan broke from his lips as Danny squeezed it.   
          “It’s on your dick, I could guess as much.” Danny giggled and thrust his own cock up into Brian’s grip.   
          “No, it’s,” Brian’s breathing rate continued to rise as Danny just kept squeezing and the other hand stroked up and down his head.  “It’s--aaaah!”  His climax shot up and into Danny’s hair, “Sorry…”   
          “I got what I wanted.” Dan laughed, “No apologies here.”   
          Before long, it was already checkout time and they scrambled to throw their things where they belonged.  The case being that Danny  __ could afford another night didn’t matter, he didn’t want to pay for another night all the same.  Moreover, the travel back to Moosonee alone would take an entire day by itself.   
          With loaded backpacks, both men checked out of the building and walked out onto the street.  Their train wasn’t due to leave until late that night, so they entertained themselves awhile.  They ducked into a few places to look at souvenirs, but mostly focused on their rumbling stomachs.  Still they found themselves without all that much to do and by five o’clock, they were already waiting in the Toronto train station.   
          “I really had fun last night…” Danny said out of the blue.  “Like, really.  Your friends are awesome.”   
          “Yeah, they’re really talented.” Brian nodded in approval, “Maybe if we’re ever in town again, we could hang out with them.  They love a good jam session.”   
          “That’d be sweet.” Dan reached across the bench they sat upon to lace his fingers between Brian’s.  “I’d love to do this again.” Turning his head, he smiled to his new lover.   
          “Yeah, I would too.”  Brian leaned in to share a short kiss with him, the two nuzzling their faces together thereafter.  Both men felt like they could take on whatever the future could possibly hold.


	11. 11

          The weeks that followed the trip to Toronto were not eventful for Brian, but they did hold new and wonderful things for Danny.  While Brian still spent most of his time in the forest among his wolves, this didn’t cut into their couple’s time together.  Dan visited within the limits of the trees as often as he could and he also resumed visiting the Brewhouse to pay Arin visits.  
          “You guys are _what_?”  Arin’s mouth was agape, true happiness in his eyes.  “That’s _wonderful_!” He shouted, raising his arms into the air, his joy so ebullient he had no idea what else to do with himself.  
          “Yeah.” Dan said through a blush, his fingers curled around his glass of beer, “Things are going great.”  
          “Well…  I’m happy he’s happy.  And you’re happy, of course.” Arin brought his hands back down to the counter.  
          “He’s agreed to talk to you…” Dan presented, letting go of his beer to nest his fingers together.  
          “R-Really?”  There was real hope in Arin’s eyes, “You’re serious, like…  He wants to?”  
          Dan nodded, “He figures that you two have a lot to work out.”  
          “He’s not forgiven me though…” The smile melted from Arin’s face like butter in a pan.  
          “I…  I don’t think so, no, but…  This is a place to start.” Dan shrugged, unable to offer more insight.  
          “Yeah…  Yeah, you’re right.” Arin’s habitual smile returned, but it was considerably diminished from before.  “A start is better than nowhere.”  
          “You know it.” Dan grinned, taking Arin’s hand from across the counter and squeezing it.  
  
          As the moon waxed fuller over those nights and Brian chose to return to his home in the evenings, it quickly became apparent to both men that they couldn’t ignore Brian’s condition.  It was never something that Danny had tried to distance himself from, but he also had never considered the particularities of it.  While Danny was aware that the full moon had been upon Brian that first night he had seen him, it never occurred to him that it was any different from Brian being shifted other times.  
          They were nestled in each other’s arms the night Brian chose to broach the topic.  Their bodies still slick with sweat and breaths uneven.  
          “My moon is in a few days.” Brian began, Dan’s chin tucked upon his head.  
          “I know… What do you want to do about it?” Danny’s fingers were still laced into Brian’s hair, soothingly stroking down to his back.  
          “I’m different during my moon.” Brian quietly admitted, “There are things that I can’t help during that time…”  
          “Oh?” Danny pulled away only far enough so that the two could see eye-to-eye.  “You’d never hurt a fly, so I’m guessing you’re saying you aren’t dangerous.”  
          “Please, Dan,” Brian snorted, shaking his head, “I’m _always_ dangerous, but no, that’s not what I mean.”  He took a few minutes to sum up what he wanted to say, the meantime passing in companionable silence, “My appetite for a lot of things is considerably _larger_ in the days leading up to my shift.  My shift lasts three days and while I will be human as long as the moon isn’t up, I’ll still be different.”  
          “Okay, like _how_ , then?  Do you mean you’ll be constantly hungry, or what?”  
          “Hungry for more than food, Dan…” Brian cleared his voice, “I’ll want your constant attention essentially…  A lot of food, I’ll be irritable--I’ll be honest, the times between shifts, if I’m human are uncomfortable--and I’ll want _sex_.”  
          “Okay… That doesn’t sound that bad.”  Dan reassured, resuming his strokes up and down Brian’s back.  
          “I mean… I’ll want all those things _even while I’m not human_ …” Brian clarified and Dan suddenly understood why this was such a sore spot for him.  
          “I’ll…  Do what I can, okay?”  
          “I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to, Dan.”  
          “I won’t be.  I’ll do whatever I can for you, okay?” Leaning in, Dan gave him another kiss, “It’s going to be fine.”  
          Brian took in a deep breath and sighed, “Yeah…  I just don’t want you to be scared.”  
          “What’s there to be scared of?  It’s you.”  
          “Hah,” Brian let his eyes flutter closed, nuzzling up to Danny’s chest, “Right.”  
  
          “Are you doing okay?” Danny asked over his morning cup of coffee, two days following their nighttime vamp.  Brian paced, he looked out the window, he went to the front of the house and looked out that window…  “Brian…  Yo!”  Dan called as his sentinel patrol sent him back into his office for the third time.  
          “Yes, Dan?” Brian came to a stop in the doorframe of the kitchen, trying to casually put his hands in his pockets while the flushed skin of his chest sweated.  
          “I know you’re… On edge right now, but you can calm down.” Dan stood from the table, approaching him slowly and smoothly.  Laying a hand on Brian’s clammy cheek, he smiled “Does shifting _before_ the moon comes up make you feel better?”  
          “Yes…”  Brian responded in a small voice, “I’m not used to this anymore…  The trying to stay in _this_ shape for as long as possible.”  
          “You don’t have to, babe.” Danny assured, giving one cheek a kiss and then the other.  “I’m just fine hanging out with you when you’re fluffier.  Hell,” Danny giggled, “you were fluffy when I _met_ you.”  
          “I would be more okay with it if I could talk…” Brian murmured, leaning against Dan’s chest.  
          “Well… You still have thumbs and fingers.  Why not _write_ what you need to say?”  
          “I’ve,” there was the unmistakable expression on Brian’s face of “I’m so dumb” before he continued speaking “never tried that before…”  
          “Really?”  Dan’s face was less so about Brian not thinking of it and more of… A disappointment that Terrence had never really tried that hard to communicate with him. “Seems pretty obvious.”  
          “If you want to _try_ that.”  Brian moved on quickly, watching as Danny skittered away and trotted upstairs.  Uncomfortable with the way his skin vibrated and his gums _itched_ , he began pacing again, unaware that the troubling habit had started again until Danny returned.  
          “Brian, you’re going to wear a hole in the floor.” Dan warned, a lined notepad and a large marker in one hand.  “Think these will be big enough for your hands?”  
          “They should be.” Brian accepted the tools and looked to Dan, he looked as if he wanted to say something, but it never made its way out.  The only thing Dan got was “I’ll be back.” Shuffling down the hallway and into the office out of sight, he dropped himself to his fours and shivered as his more natural body filled in.  He was big!  He was powerful!  He was _so fluffy Danny was gonna die_!  
          “Well, can you hold it?” Danny asked the hulking wolf that _carefully_ returned through the hall, his broad shoulders nearly knocking decorations off the walls.  
Brian nodded, sitting back on his haunches to open and hold the marker in one clumsy hand.  Danny listened to his tail thump against the floor in excitement as he put the marker to the paper and began to write.  Needless to say, this showed great results in quite short order.  What was the first thing Brian had chosen to write, one might ask?  Proudly, Brian showed off the pad of paper, “BUTTSEX” written in big, bold letters.   
          Gripping his stomach, Danny laughed so hard tears came to his eyes.  No matter what form he was in Brian was forever destined to be an _insufferable tool_.  Such a statement proved itself all the more truthful as the three-day stretch pressed onward.  The two came together softly as Brian set the writing utensils aside.  If Brian was going to be very affectionate, Danny had better set an example that it didn’t bother him in the slightest.  Leaning in, he kissed the very tip of Brian’s nose, the fact that there were walls of sharp teeth just beneath it never once occurring to him.  
          “Snuggle?” Danny offered, seeing the way Brian’s huge eyes lit up and his tail wagged with enough intensity to sound like a drum upon the floor.  “Come here, you goon.” Dan took a fistfull of his thick fur and lead him to the couch.  The furniture groaned under Brian’s great weight, but showed no signs of breaking as they both got comfortable.  There they sat for a bit, Danny kissing Brian’s muzzle and forehead and eventually they just enjoyed the contact with each other.  Danny’s hands still stroked up and down Brian’s ruff of fur, but he felt more like going back to sleep, even at this--relatively--early hour.  
          “Stop it,” Danny whined as Brian pushed his big, cold, wet nose up against his face after he made an attempt at a nap.  Brian had already refused to be parted from Danny for any longer than fifteen minutes at a time.  It stood to say that Danny should have _some_ relative privacy--such as the privacy of his face only having spit of his _own_ on it--but Brian was determined to rip the last vestiges of that away.  
          “Bwoo…”  Brian responded sadly, turning his snuffling nose elsewhere, like Danny’s shirt.  
          “Now, don’t make that face, that’s not fair.” Danny tried to reason as the _very sad_ wolf hid his face in his shirt.  This guy was a right terror for sure, no _wonder_ everyone in town had tried to kill him once.  Knowing what he knew now, it made Danny wonder how he had ever been afraid of him in the first place, and served to further damn his views of the townsfolk at large.  How could _anyone_ once seeing Brian like this even think for a moment that he was some vicious killer?  
          Gentle still, Danny reached behind Brian’s big ears and scratched them, “Don’t be sad, I still want to cuddle.” he encouraged, smiling when the huge snoot lifted out of his shirt.  “There we go--Ah!  Brian!” Danny’s words were cut off quickly by a huge tongue licking him from chin to hairline seconds before Brian lept off him.  Dan heard the way the werewolf was sniggering at his expense across the room and it was just as well that he was so far away or Danny would’ve punched him.  
  
          The other things that Brian had warned him of _did_ indeed come.  The first problem Dan dealt with, was having to run to the grocery store to pick up more meat than he had ever pictured himself buying at one time.  Brian’s wolf tongue was a very discerning one on top of that.  He only desired the meat of game or lamb.  Lamb was hard to come by in Moosonee, but venison, thankfully, was not.  Word had _long_ travelled around town about Brian and Dan’s relationship, so the butcher didn’t even bat an eye when Dan ordered ten pounds of the stuff.  
          Upon arriving home, if Brian wasn’t immediately trying to tear into the wrapped packages of meat, he was trying to lick Dan’s face or otherwise impede his ability to do human things.  At one point, Brian even swept Dan off his feet to hug him to his chest like a child would a ragdoll.  He couldn’t grudge the wolf a single action though.  It was…   _Cute_.  
          “You’re wonderful.” Danny stroked through Brian’s fur that night, kissing into it.  He knew he would wake up in the morning and Brian would be human again, mad as a hornet and looking like a truck hit him.  Even then, he was still wonderful…  Dan had known deeper affections were going to bloom, he just hadn’t been expecting them to come so quickly.  That big L-word--no, not Lesbian--was on the tip of his tongue, but he quashed it down.  As much as his feelings told him he was ready for that, his head knew better by now.  
          “Rwoo?”  Brian vocalized, turning his big, muscular body towards Danny.  He draped one furry arm over the human’s much smaller body and snuggled close.  
          “I said you’re wonderful.” Danny told him again, stroke a hand up the grey and white muzzle inches from his face.  He considered kissing him, but Danny didn’t know if he was quite so ready to cross that line into having sex with the werewolf in _this_ form.  Perhaps in the future, for now, his mind couldn’t get over Brian’s appearance.  Though sentience and capability to consent were there…  He didn’t think he could do it.  
          “Mmmm, ruff.” Brian quietly answered, flicking his tongue out just enough to lick the tip of Danny’s nose.  Instead of things escalating, he nuzzled his face into Danny’s chest, taking a deep breath and sighing it back out his nose.  
          Following morning, however, had been a different story.  Danny was awoken early by the feeling of hot, wet kisses on the back of his neck.  With a tired groan, he looked back over his shoulder Brian, his face and body bruised with the exertion of a transformation he couldn’t control.  His deep blue eyes burned with a lust that Danny could not deny aroused his loins.  
          “Good morning.”  Danny greeted, pressing their lips together.  He was surprised when Brian’s lips pressed back with greater fervor.  The werewolf’s body burned with sexual heat and Danny let him take the lead, allowing himself to be flipped onto his stomach.  Lifting his back end up onto his knees, he braced his arms against the bed, moaning as he felt Brian’s rough, wet tongue against his opening, “Ah, Brian…” He curled his fingers into the bed and pressed his face to his pillow.  
          “Do you like that?” Brian asked, his voice heavy beneath his lust.  
          “Fuck yes.” Danny replied, moaning a bit more as he felt Brian’s tongue slide just barely inside of him.  His partner’s hot, rough hand closed around his faintly aroused dick and another moan escaped his lips, “Oh my god, Brian, please, just….” He trailed off as Brian’s tongue dove deeper into his body, making his spine shiver and his legs quake, “I need you to fuck me.” He sighed, his fists full of the bedclothes.  A bereft whine broke from him as Brian’s mouth left his puckered opening.  Though he knew Brian was fetching lube and a condom from the bedside, it still put him out a great deal to suddenly not have that pleasure anymore.  As he waited, Danny reached back between his legs to tug at his shaft, pulling what little of a foreskin he had left up over his shaft again and again.  
          “You better not be about to come.” Brian cautioned, climbing back onto the bed to roll the condom onto his length and lube up his fingers.  From his vantage on the bed, Dan saw Brian’s knot surface.  It wasn’t always there, it seemed to come and go with Brian’s mood, but judging by his current need, Danny wasn’t surprised.  
          “Of course not.” Danny shook his head, his hand’s pace remaining slow but firm.  “I want you to fuck me, babe.  Until I’m screaming.”  
          “I’ll see if I can make that happen.”  With a slick finger, Brian probed inside his lover, drawing the digit in and out slowly.  He heard the difference it made in Dan’s moans, hearing them tick upward ever so slightly.  Once adding a second finger, he saw Dan’s whole body shake, “Tell me how much you want it.” He ordered.  
          “Please fuck me.” Dan shortly asked.  
          “You’ll have to do better than that.”  
          “Brian, _please_ , just get inside me, I want you so bad.” Danny pleaded, quivering with anticipation.  
          “Good enough.”  Though Brian made sure Danny was stretched enough for his plans, he did it as quickly as he could imagine was safe.  It didn’t take long from there for Brian to ready himself at Danny’s entrance and push inside.  His eyes falling shut, his mouth dipped open at the sweet pleasure of insertion.  He listened carefully for the way Danny moaned, satisfied in the sound that he was not hurting him.  Nonetheless, Brian remained still inside of him, stroking his hands up and down his lover’s sides.  
          Danny spent a long minute breathing in and out, relaxing as much as he could.  Drawing in one deep breath, he nodded his head more to himself than Brian, steeling himself for the sensations.  However, he called over his shoulder, “ _Wreck_ me!”  Before the onslaught began, Danny smiled when Brian dragged his hand down his spine to his butt and gave his small cheeks a slap with his meaty palm.  Then they were both a series of moans and the slapping of wet skin.  They were tired bodies working towards something better than the both of them.  There were curled fingers digging into fabric and skin, and gritted teeth, and groans and shivers…  
          “Brian,” Danny gasped, “can I have it?”  
          “Have?” Brian panted.  
          “Your knot.”  
          Brian’s motions stopped, much to Danny’s frustration, “Are you sure?”  
          “Yes, please.”  
          Hesitating at first, Brian sank his cock deeper inside his boyfriend.  A particularly strangled noise escaping him as it “popped” inside.  Danny’s moans coupled with Brian’s gasping for a long minute, both men in a pleasured stupor.  However, with a bit of perseverance, the two restarted their movements.  
          Danny was the first to come, his hot, white seed spurting over Brian’s fingers and his ragged breaths bouncing off the old walls of the bedroom.  Biting his tongue, he curved his back and pressed onto Brian’s cock drawing itself in and out of him.  
          “Come on, baby.” Danny panted, the pleasure of Brian nailing his sweet spot still pulsing through him.  “Come on, come on.” His voice dipped to a pleasured mumble, his breaths came in short bursts, “please, please, _please_.”  He begged as if Brian’s pleasure was a greater pleasure than his own.  
          “Aaah!” Brian’s climax finally came, his end filling his condom to capacity.  
          The two stayed together on the bed, panting and kissing in a tangle of arms and murmured sweet nothings.  Danny giggled when Brian licked his neck, and batted his sweet face away, “That tickles!”  
          “Oh really?” Brian rubbed his whiskers all over Danny’s face and neck, getting more giggles for his trouble.  
 _Damn,_ Danny thought, _if every morning is going to be like this, this whole once a month moon thing sounds like a good idea._  
***  
          All too quickly it seemed, the conversation of Danny’s return to the US came.  With only a few months left until his return was required by the Canadian government, both men felt all the more like they had just been wasting time.  Sure they had been having fun getting to know each other, but neither should’ve gotten too comfortable and settled-in.  They both knew the date of Danny’s exit was fast approaching and no amount of sex, or dates, or home decor-shopping could negate that.  While a visa could always be renewed, they nonetheless, looked at the approaching day as a due date.  There was so much left to get done and so little time.  
          Brian still needed to make sweet on his promise to Danny those months ago in a bed in Toronto.  In a hawaiian t-shirt that fit the late-summer weather, Brian stood on Arin’s porch, Danny at his side.  Knowing that there was no way out of this, Brian lifted his hand and knocked three times.  When there was no immediate answer, Brian lifted his hand once more and knocked, careful of his strength to not dent the door.  
          “It’s going to be all right.”  Danny encouraged, squeezing Brian’s shoulder with an apprehensive smile.  
          “Well, nothing can be as bad as that _one time_ I ran into him.” Brian’s tone was heavy with cynicism and Danny _hoped_ this wasn’t destined to be ruined from the start.  
          The front door pulled inward and Arin’s face went instantly from cheery to skeptical, “Uh.. Hello, you two…” He greeted, clearing his throat, “Is there… Something I can do--”  
          “Uncca Bwian!” Trina interrupted her father, dashing through the open door in an instant to cling around Brian’s shins.  
          “Hi there.” Brian grinned down to the small child, leaning to pick her up and take her to hip.  Brian, at least, did not ignore Arin’s questions as he held the little girl close, “I think you and I need to talk..”  His voice was low and solemn as Suzy rounded the corner and stopped at the end of the hall, “Brian?” She asked, as if she’d seen a ghost.  Brian gave her a smile “Hey, Suzy, how’ve you been?”  
          “I’ve been great, um…” She came to the door, looking between the three men that stood thus.  Her unsure expression could only hold out so long though; seeing Brian on her doorstep, holding her little girl was enough to crack her face into a mile-wide grin.  Making sure to keep her motions smooth, she stepped forward and gave him and Trina a hug, “It’s great to see you back.”  
          “I’m glad to _be_ back.” As rough a road as it had been at times…  “I’m here to talk with Arin, would you mind taking Trina?” Brian indicated Trina in his arms, her arms wrapped around his neck.  
          “Sure, no problem.” Suzy carefully pried Trina’s hands from him despite her protests and left for her room.  
          Danny, feeling a little forgotten here, cleared his throat, “Arin, would you mind if we both came in?”  
          “Yeah, that’s fine.”  Arin moved from the way and motioned both men inside.  However, the talk didn’t start until they were all settled in the living room, Suzy returning from putting Trina down for a nap--it was a hard-fought battle for all wondering.  While Danny had expected the talking to start almost at once, instead, all he got was silence.  Arin made a false start, but fell quiet as the words died on his lips.  His eyes, all the while fixed on the mutilated side of Brian’s face.  It worked just as well, Danny decided, because had they been too rowdy too fast, Trina would have heard.  
          “I’m sorry.”  Arin finally began.  
          “I know you are…”  Brian accepted, “But,” he took a breath, licking his lips, “it’s going to still take me more time if I’m ever going to forgive you.”  
          “I understand.”  Arin’s voice was decidedly morose, it was evident to Dan that he didn’t think redemption was something he was worthy of.  No matter how much he wished for it.  “I just…  Don’t want you to hold it against Trina.”  Arin kept speaking, sitting up a bit taller as Suzy put her hand to his shoulder.  Inside, Danny wondered why Suzy didn’t speak, unless there was something she felt equal shame for.  If that was the case, Dan could not say and he did not dare to ask.  
          “Trust me, I don’t.” Brian replied with venom enough to scare a snake.  
          Arin did not flinch, he didn’t even blink, “Thank you.”  
          “It’s not for your benefit.”  
          “I never thought that it was.” Arin nodded, “Thank you for finding her.”  Offering out his hand over the limited space between them, Arin waited.  Dan knew the feeling of holding your breath for understanding that there was the intense chance you were not going to get.  However, stars above, Brian reached out and clasped his hand in Arin’s.  
          “You’re welcome.”  Brian replied, the slightest twinkle in his eye.  
***  
          By the time Dan’s visa wound down, autumn had already settled upon Moosonee.  The dense, lively forest around the sleepy town bloomed with orange, yellow and red.  The pines remained their staunch, dark green, dotting the bright landscape as animals scurried out of their protective branches to find food.  Trina was often found weaving in and out of the undergrowth in those days, a massive wolf following fast to her heels.  Dan was often left behind to smile at the pair as they romped and played, never feeling more at peace.  Though he knew his time to leave was soon, he didn’t shy away from it, it was time to move on, time to get his life together.  
  
          Hand-in-hand, Brian and Dan approached the Moosonee train station.  Both men heard the small family of friends behind them chat with each other.  Arin was excited for the street fair, Trina was having too much fun braiding Suzy’s hair.  They were a stark contrast to the pair that walked in step with each other. Brian and Danny walked in solemn, companionable silence up until they climbed the steps into the station.  Dan reached his other hand into his pocket to thumb his train ticket--this was really happening.  
          “Brian…” Danny began, waiting for his lover to look up to him, “Thank you for everything you’ve done.”  
          Brian smiled and shook his head, pivoting to stand before Danny and take both his hands, “You’ve done more than enough for me, Danny.  I should be thanking you.”  
          “Do you know when you’ll be down?”  Danny asked, hearing the train pull into the platform.  He flicked his eyes to Arin and Suzy and Trina as they boarded with smiles.  At least he wasn’t doing this journey back completely alone.  That didn’t make this goodbye feel any easier all the same.  
          “I can’t say…  I have to sell the house, arrange for moving.” Brian answered, not wanting to give Danny any bullshit.  “I’ll need to make sure the wolves are going to be okay.  There will be legal things I’ll have to work through leaving Canada and going back to the U.S.” he continued on.  
          “I know.” Danny nodded, his chest feeling tight as he looked down at their hands, “You won’t just…  Disappear will you?”  He felt guilty for asking, but…  
          “Have I done that to you, Dan?” Brian raised an eyebrow, squeezing Dan’s hands in his.  “You’ve been an invaluable asset to my transition back into society…” A breath passed between them before Brian continued “And I love you.” his lips cracked into a sincere smile, “I’ll join you as soon as I can.”  
          “I love you too.” Danny’s heart fluttered and he stepped forward to press their lips together.  
          “There, now.  Don’t be upset.  I’ll need to visit New York anyway.  I’ll need to start _somewhere_ after I somehow talk my way out of being missing for two damn years.” Brian chuckled, releasing one hand to clap Danny on the shoulder.  “I’ll be there before you know it.  I can meet the parents and everything!”  
          Danny nodded, hearing the loudspeaker in the train station declare the train’s departure time.  He took a deep breath, stepping closer to Brian than before, “I can do this.”  
          “Yes, you can.” Brian’s usually mischievous eyes glimmered with nothing other than devotion.  “Go get your life together, make me proud.”  Both men brought their lips together one final time.  
          “I’ll see you soon.” Danny stepped away from him, his hands grudgingly releasing Brian’s fingers, “And I _won’t_ be a mess when that time comes.”  
          “I’m counting on it!” Brian declared, watching Danny board the train with a squirm in his stomach.  He didn’t want Dan to be so far from him either, but they both, for now anyway, had separate paths.  His place was in Moosonee to get his life back and Dan’s was in New York.  Their lives were far apart, but were on the fast track to reunion.  
Dan gave Brian one final wave, the train doors closing as it was declared that every passenger get to their seats for departure.  His eyes followed Brian standing on the platform as long as they could, but all too soon for Danny, his lover was gone.  Heart hammering in his chest and fingers nervously picking at his backpack, he repeated to himself “You can do this.  Do it for Brian.”  With his breathing settling, Danny opened his eyes.  His life-changing trip out to Moosonee was at an end and he was chugging towards the rest of his life.  He was either going to swim or he was going to sink and with Brian expecting him to be stable and ready, he couldn’t afford to sink.  No, his future was going to be good.   _He_ was going to make it that way.  
          Dan relaxed back into his train seat, looking out the window as the dark forest stretched on either side of the train.  The forest called to him as much as the city did, it was a spiritual experience that he would not soon forget.


End file.
